Quis custōdiet ipsōs custōdēs?
by Resa13
Summary: Scarlet and Alexa grew up knowing about the Watchmen, but they never understood how that knowledge shaped their destiny.
1. Chapter 1

1.

Scarlet looked out her window. The snow stretched out for miles. There was nothing but the vast expanse of white. Adrian had offered her a room that looked out over the beautiful oasis, but she preferred this view. It was harsh and bright, but it was real. There was no hiding behind the vague shape and meaningless comfort. That's how Scarlet lived her life, no hiding, everything was real.

She walked over to the desk that sat next to her bed; it was piled high with books. She picked up an old leather bound book which was titled, _The Secrets of Ancient Egypt, _she let her fingers trace the raised letters. Four years ago she thought it was absurd the way Adrian made her learn such useless things, she wanted to learn how to fight, but now she understood. Adrian had explained that to be truly powerful, one had to have a mind that was equal to if not stronger than one's body. He had taught her about art, literature, and science along with all her physical training. He said she had talent, in mind and body and neither should go to waste. There was a soft knock on her door and she jumped slightly as she looked up. Adrian Veidt stepped into her room tentatively. She smiled when she saw him. She had always been able to appreciate that by normal standards Adrian was a very attractive man. Then again, she thought as she smirked to herself, she wasn't exactly what you would call normal. Especially in the way she saw the people around her, to her Adrian was her brother, her mentor, and in many ways one of her closest friends. She had lived here with him at Karnack in the southern most reaches of the world for four years, and never once had there been even the hint of a romance between them. Romance…. She thought to herself, the word was as absurd to her as the idea of waking up one morning and seeing a tree growing outside her window in the frozen tundra. Romance was useless, the world had much more tangible and satisfying things to offer, such as justice.

"Correct me if I'm wrong but weren't we supposed to meet for a sparring session an hour ago?" said Adrian, as he leaned against the wall and gave her a smug but affectionate look.

"Excuse me?" said Scarlet, "You've been in a meeting with the new President since noon. I've been waiting for _you_."

"Touché…." said Adrian, "But I'm free now… so can we go enjoy ourselves?"

"Yes…" said Scarlet and they walked out of her room and down the hall.

"So tell me Adrian, how is the actor turned President doing at keeping his decrepit country from falling apart at the seams?" Scarlet said sarcastically.

"Reagan is actually doing very well, America is finally starting to come back from all the darkness they were subjected to under Nixon. He's actually taking a new look at the Keen Act, there's talk of it being revoked." said Adrian as he opened the door to their massive gymnasium.

Scarlet stopped in her tracks and looked at him.

"Are you serious? Revoked…. That means the Watchmen could be active again, not hiding in the shadows like frightened mice." she said breathlessly.

Adrian gave her a crooked smile and walked back to her, he put his hands on her shoulders and looked down at her in an endearing way.

"You and I both know that if the president and his advisors are talking about something it is going to be months if not years until anything happens. _If_ anything happens." He said calmly.

"I know," said Scarlet and she walked across the room to a large open area and then turned back to him, "It's just nice to have a hope, maybe it's time we moved back…"

"I've been thinking that too…" said Adrian as he took a spot opposite her about twenty feet away.

"I guess that depends on whether you think you're ready." He said with a playful smile that she knew was meant as a challenge.

Scarlet attacked him straight on and went for a round house kick but Adrian was too fast he dodged to the right, and tried grab her arm and twist it behind her but she flipped around and caught him with a punch to the chest, he flew back slightly but managed to bring his leg around and knock her feet out from under her. She executed an impressive spin in mid air so she landed on her stomach and could bring her foot up to kick Adrian in the stomach as he advanced. They continued this violent dance for the next half hour or so, each one of them getting the upper hand at certain moments. In the end it was Adrian who prevailed but it was obvious they were very closely matched. From this point Scarlet went on to practice with her knives. She went through the training obstacle course that Adrian had made for her, and by the end she had gotten a perfect seventy out of seventy hits. She had been training for the past four years and Adrian had told her that he was fairly certain she would be the most unparalleled knife fighter in all of the United States when they returned.

As they walked out of the gym Adrian gave her a nudge and smiled.

"You're really getting quite impressive in their Tessa." He said.

Scarlet's body tensed in annoyance as she looked at him.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? I'm not Tessa. I'm Scarlet." she said heatedly.

"If you're serious about moving back to the real world you're going to have to accept the fact that part of you will always be Tessa Park." said Adrian matter-of-factly.

"_When_ we move back, I will accept that the world will see me as Tessa, I will get up each day and put on that face, but it will only ever be a mask. That's the difference between you and I Adrian, you can be both Adrian Veidt, and Ozymandias, I can't." she stepped close to him and looked him right in the eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper and she spoke again, and it trembled slightly with the passion of her words.

"Tessa Park is dead." She said softly, "She died with Timothy Park, when Timothy's heart beat it's last it was Tessa who closed her eyes and cried. When the tears were gone, it was Scarlet who opened her eyes again. I'm nothing more… nothing less." She said softly.

"Oh Scarlet…" said Adrian in a sad but resigned sort of way. He patted her arm and shook his head slightly before walking away.

Scarlet watched him go and then headed back to her room. She felt the emotions inside her, they were always bubbling just under the surface. Scarlet walked into her room and went to the shower, she turned on the water as hot as she could stand it and then stepped in. She tilted her head back and let the water wash through her hair. She held her arm out and watched her skin changed from creamy white to pink to red where the water touched it. She closed her eyes and let the memories come flooding back, her sister…. her parents…. Timothy… his beautiful smile flashed before her eyes and she smiled in spite of herself. There was someone else… he was nothing more than a vague shadow to her, a whispered figure, but he had always been in the back of her mind. She remembered when she was ten and he had shown up at her house to tell her parents that he would find her baby sister who had been kidnapped. His voice was low and gruff, and something about him seemed… scary. Not the obvious superhero, not like Adrian. She had been peeking through the crack in the railing on the staircase; she only caught a glimpse of him as he left; trench coat and fedora. She had never seen him again. She had asked Adrian about him when she had come here, it was the first time she had a name. Adrian said he was called Rorschach. She thought the name fit, something raw and rough about it. She remembered the moment Adrian told her he was dead. It felt like a light had gone out in her world. As long as she had been Scarlet, she had felt some connection to the world, knowing the shadowed figure she had seen walking out her doorway so many years ago, was out there doing what was necessary.

Scarlet realized that her fingers were pruning so she stepped out of the shower. She wrapped a towel around herself and headed back into her room. She opened her closet to pull out some clothes, and her eyes fell on a particularly interesting outfit in the far left corner. There was a long black trench coat made of leather, and a pair of knee high jack boots. A pair of camouflage army issue pants and a bright red cotton shirt hung next to them along with a black bobby cap, and a black mask that covered the eyes. Scarlet reached out and picked up the mask. She had always marveled at the backwardness of her life. How wearing this mask, was the only time truly felt like she wasn't hiding. She put the mask over her eyes and turned to look in the mirror. The Scarlet Carson, it was a red rose, a British variety, her mother had always loved them. She told her the story about how her grandmother used to grow them in her window box. One day when her mother was little she tried to pick one and got her finger pricked by the thorns. Granny told her that she should always remember, even the most beautiful things in the world, come at a cost. Granny never knew how true her words were. Now Tessa was gone, and only the Scarlet Carson remained, to pay that cost.

"You still in there old girl?" she said to her reflection, thought it didn't answer, Scarlet thought she felt something inside of her confirm her question.

00000

A few days later Scarlet was swimming laps in the Oasis pool. Adrian had gone out of his way to make sure that the Oasis was the epitome of Eden. There were toucans, macaws, and ever other find of tropical bird imaginable. There were monkeys and sloths and even some wilder animals. Scarlet's favorites were the ocelots there were like miniature jaguars and they were very friendly having been raised around people. She climbed out of the pool and went to sit on a chair where her favorite ocelot, Hermes was sprawled out. She sat down next to him and stroked the cat's soft fur. She wrapped herself in a towel and then laid back and closed her eyes. Scarlet was an extremely modest person. Even though she knew that Adrian was the only one who would possibly see her and he did not look at her that way, she was very reserved when it came to showing off her body. A few moments later Adrian walked into the Oasis.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise…" said Scarlet, "you never come down here…"

"Yeah well I got a bit of time off this morning, and I thought I'd come join you in a swim." He said he gave her a knowing look and then continued, "What I really want to know is, was this really a surprise? Or did you know I was coming?" he said.

Scarlet gave him a slightly guilty grin.

"I saw a flash of you coming a few seconds before you got here…." She said.

"Good…" said Adrian, "that means your improving because you can see beyond the important events of your life into the everyday."

Ever since Scarlet was a little girl she had a particular gift that no one quite knew how to explain. She herself likened it to having a sort of buzzing in your ears that you never got rid of but almost became used to. Sometimes she would be struck with the strangest sensation that she knew what was going to happen seconds before it happened. The first time this had occurred was when she was eight. She and her mother had been walking down the road and she had suddenly yelled, "watch out!" Her mother had jumped violently and was about to chastise her for trying to scare her when across the street a man had walked into a ladder propped up against a building and brought it crashing down. Her mother asked her how she had known the man was going to do that, and she had answered honestly that she had no idea…she just knew. From that point on her mother had called it her special gift, she had teased that she would become a psychic when she grew up and make tons of money doing, "ten second fortunes". When Scarlet had come to Karnack things had changed, something about the high amount of tachyons here seemed to heighten her "abilities" and Adrian picked up on it almost instantly. He explained that most human beings operate on one wave length, but there are other wave lengths all around. She just happened to have the ability to tap into a higher one than most other humans. He began to try to the best of his ability to help her harness and use that ability. He was working by theory only, seeing as how he could not do it himself. She had started having definable visions of the future only one year previously, and she was now working on learning how to control them. Adrian had on more than one occasion said he wished they had Dr. Manhattan, or Jon, as Adrian called him, that he could teach Scarlet how to use her power so much more efficiently than Adrian ever could. Scarlet was always fascinated when Adrian talked about the other Watchmen. He told her about Jon, and Laurie also called the Silk Specter, and Daniel Dreiberg, who was a Watchmen called Night Owl. Yet he was very vague on any details about the one Watchmen she was desperate to know about. It took her almost three months to get him to tell her anything about Rorschach. He knew her past, and how intrinsically tied to it the masked man was, but she often got the feeling that he was actively trying to make her forget him, and that her ardent idealization of him was a source of great annoyance.

"So are we swimming or what?" said Adrian.

"Ok…" said Scarlet, and got up to follow him to the pool.

"So fifty dollars says I can swim ten more laps than you." said Adrian.

"You're on…" said Scarlet and she removed her towel to get in the pool. She was still slightly awkward about letting Adrian see her in her swimsuit but he was like her brother, so she decided it wasn't too inappropriate. She made to step into the pool when she noticed that Adrian was staring at her, his eyes were focused on her left hip and she looked down. He was staring at the small tattoo she had there, it was two lower case typescript "r's" that were mirrored, with spots on either side.

"What the hell is that?" said Adrian softly his eyes were full of anger.

"My tattoo…" said Scarlet defensively, "I've had it since I was seventeen…"

"Do you have any clue what that symbol means?" said Adrian.

"I know exactly what it means…." said Scarlet coldly, "it's Rorschach's symbol. He left a note on our front porch when I was eleven; this symbol was how he signed it. I didn't know anything about him then, except this symbol, it was my only connection to him. Then when everything happened, when I decided to become Scarlet, I got this tattoo. It reminds me of why I am, what I am. He's my inspiration, my driving force."

"You're inspiration…." Said Adrian softly his voice full of disgust, "So that's what all of this has been about. Four years I've trained you, cared for you, protected you, and nurtured you. For what? So you can go out there and pick up where _he_ left off?? No compromise? Everything is black and white, be a sociopathic killer like HIM????" Adrian was shouting now.

"HE DID WHAT NEEDED TO BE DONE!!" shouted Scarlet right back, "AND HE DIDN'T CARE WHO HATED HIM FOR IT!!"

"You know NOTHING about him…." Said Adrian in a deadly whisper, "he did what he did for himself, he refused to compromise no matter what the circumstances. He didn't understand the meaning of sacrifice for the good, only for himself."

"You're a liar…" said Scarlet, "everything he did was for others, every moment of his life. I'd wager he died for the good of humanity as well."

Adrian made an incredulous noise and he moved towards her.

"He died because he was to hard headed to see that the good of humanity required sacrifice!! He died because he wasn't strong enough to do what I did, what we all had to do." Said Adrian, and he looked away from her closing his eyes as in pain.

"What are you talking about?" said Scarlet warily.

Adrian sighed and put his head in his hands.

"I'd hoped it would never come to this…." He said as he got slowly out of the pool and sat on one of the chairs. "I tried so hard to keep you from this pain, to make you see that the world isn't as black and white as some people believe, because I knew…. that if this day ever came, you would hate me forever…"

"Adrian what are you talking about?" said Scarlet, she wrapped the towel back around herself and went to sit beside him, "I could never hate you, you're the only family I have…"

Adrian looked up at her sadly.

"You will hate me Scarlet," he said, "But now I see there isn't any other way."

"It was five years ago…. The world stood on the brink of nuclear war, and everyone was living in fear. I had to find a way to stop it, to save mankind." Adrian began slowly.

"I remember…" said Scarlet, "We were all so scared and we felt so alone. Then there was the alien attack in New York, I remember. I was on Long Island when it happened, just outside the blast radius. It was so horrifying, so much death and pain."

"and yet…. It almost seemed fortuitous did it not?" said Adrian slowly, "even with all the death, it stopped the Cold War, Russia and America made peace, and the whole world was saved. It was almost as if New York needed to happen."

"How can you say that??" said Scarlet in anger, "All those innocent people, something like that should never be the answer…. I mean, the lives of all those people…. No one could ever…."

Scarlet's voice trailed off as she looked into Adrian's face, she stood slowly moving away from him and shaking her head. Her voice was full of realization as she spoke.

"No…." she whispered, "Oh God…no…Adrian please… tell me it wasn't you…." Her eyes filled with tears.

"The good of the many…. Outweighs the good of the few…" he said softly.

"The _few_….there were millions Adrian! You killed millions of innocent people…" gasped Scarlet.

"And I saved billions of innocent people!" spat Adrian, "you really are like _him, _we had this same argument when he found out."

"YOU BASTARD!!" Scarlet screamed and she ran at him, he didn't even move to stop her as she hit him with all the force she had.

He went flying out of the chair and landed hard on his shoulder on the tile floor. He stood slowly rubbing his shoulder and looked back at her. She ran at him again ready to attack but he quickly caught both her wrists and held them so she couldn't hit him.

"You can attack me all you want, but it won't change anything." He said calmly.

She shrieked in anger and frustration and she fought him for another moment or two before acquiescing and simply glaring at him murderously. She stood before him and neither of them spoke for a few moments. Then finally she broke the silence.

"Why did he die?" she asked coldly.

"Because he refused to accept that it needed to happen, just like you. He was going to try and tell the world what I did." said Adrian.

"and you killed him for it??" said Scarlet the rage was building in her again and she began to tremble.

"No I didn't…" said Adrian delicately, "Jon did."

"But he did it for you…. To protect the horrors you had committed." said Scarlet.

"Yes… he did it for me." said Adrian.

Scarlet took a step back and looked at Adrian. She felt like she was seeing a completely different person.

"Well you were right about one thing Adrian…" she said, "I do hate you."

"As I said…." Adrian replied with a sad twisted smile.

"There's something I need you to know…" said Scarlet as she glared at him, hoping the sheer magnitude of her anger would burn a hole right through him.

"What's that?" he said calmly.

"I will use every bit of power I have inside me, from this day on to fight against you. You have spent the last four years giving me every tool I need to become your greatest adversary. I _am_ going to carry on where Rorschach left off, I will make the criminals of New York fear to say my name the way they feared his. I will change humanity, or I will burn it to the ground, and when I'm done, I'm coming back for you." she held his gaze fiercely to show him how serious she was.

"Well then you better get started," said Adrian, the sadness was readily apparent in his voice and expression, but Scarlet didn't care.

"Go pack your things and I'll inform the jet pilot he's taking you back to America…" he said.

Scarlet turned away and stormed towards the oasis door. As she made to leave Adrian called her name.

"Scarlet… I know you will never forgive me, but know that I did what I did because I believe it was the only way, and all the deceit aside, I do love you." He said.

"You're right Adrian…." Said Scarlet, and she turned and gave him her coldest look, "I'll never forgive you."

With that Scarlet turned and left him standing there looking ruined. She packed her things and left Karnack without a second glance.


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Tessa Park opened the door to her apartment and threw her coat on the peg to the left. It had been three years since she had left Karnack, since Scarlet and Ozymandias had parted ways forever. She looked around her well furnished apartment. The living room was to her right, with it's plush white furniture, and her dinning room/kitchen area was along the back wall. To the left was the hall that lead to her bedroom and bathroom, and the right wall was taken up by sliding glass doors that looked out on the balcony that ran the length of her apartment. Yes….she thought… things had changed quite a bit in those three years.

She made her way to the kitchen and pulled out left over lasagna from the night before she threw it in the microwave and then went to turn on her television. It was seven o'clock, time for the evening news. She took the food out of the microwave and sat down cross legged on the couch to watch. There was a story about a multiple rapist who had been caught two days earlier, and then a story about the mayor's response to the rising gang problem in New York. The stock market news showed that Veidt Industries stock had dropped another four points. About six months after she had moved back to New York, a magazine called the New Frontiersman had published a series of journal entries they claimed came from an authentic Journal that had been dropped in their crank file. It was _his_ journal, Rorschach's. In it he wrote enough about Adrian Veidt to make the world very distrusting of him. Since then Adrian's place as an industrial giant, had been greatly diminished. It had also made Rorschach somewhat of a hero. The city that had scorned him as a disturbed vigilantly in life, hailed him as an outspoken avenger in his death.

Just then her reveling was broken; she had heard her name on the news. They were talking about the new law she was working on getting put in place. It was a law that gave Watchmen the same rights as the NYPD in cases of illegal activity. This was another way that her life had greatly changed since moving back to New York. When she had moved back she immediately began working with an outspoken political group, but with her hard work in just six months she got them a meeting with one of the President's advisors, and her research and speeches about the necessity of the Watchmen had helped President Reagan decide to officially revoke the Keen Act two years earlier. After her triumph in Washington she had been asked to join the staff at the mayor's office in New York City, and she had made quite a name for herself as the forerunner for the rights of the Watchmen. People loved her and people hated her, but she felt that she was making a difference it made her feel slightly less like she was hiding. Yet she was hiding, Tessa Park was still just a face she wore, underneath it all she was still Scarlet. She looked out the window at the setting sun. Just a few more hours now, then she could don her true identity and go about doing things the way they were justly meant to be done.

She put her dishes in the sink and went to pick up a pile of papers that was sitting on her dining room table it was mostly paperwork and letters from various offices within the mayor's office. She absentmindedly picked up a newspaper clipping that was sitting next to them and read it for the hundredth time. It had come out two days ago, but she couldn't help reading the story again and again. It read;

_In the early spring of 1990 the New Frontiersman published a series of articles supposedly written by the notorious watchmen Walter Kovacs, a.k.a. Rorschach. Rorschach is believed to have been murdered in late 1985. Since the release of his journal entries and the subsequent revocation of the Keen Act there have been many Rorschach imposters and copy cats that have popped up here in our fair city, claiming his ideals, and even in some cases wearing similar garb. Though those who have first hand experience have testified that no one has yet created a mask as unique as his. While most of these copy cats are weak shadows at best, to the fear and awe that Rorschach struck in New York's underworld, there is one who is worth mentioning. She calls herself the Scarlet Carson. Ironically she is one of the few who does not directly claim to live by Rorschach's creed. Yet the path of mayhem she has left throughout the streets of New York is undeniably similar. Her name is spoken with almost as much whispered fear as her predecessor. Some of her more notable accomplishments are putting half the Moroni crime syndicate in the hospital in one night, _(she smiled at the memory)_, and maiming known Godfather of the Italian mafia Giorgio Compola after taking out six of his body guards. She is regarded as one of the most active, and dangerous Watchmen in New York. No doubt her predecessor would be proud if he could see her today. _

Scarlet ran her hand absentmindedly over the last few words. She wondered if he really would be proud. Ever since those journals had been released to the public she had felt so much closer to this man. She felt like she understood a piece of him. She wished for the thousandth time that she could have met him, somehow she knew that they were kindred spirits. Broken people, who weren't like everyone else, and that was fine with them. Scarlet looked out the window, it was dark. She smiled to herself and got up to go put on her true identity.

00000000

Scarlet stumbled into her apartment completely exhausted. She slowly took off her mask and costume and put them in the back of her closet. It had been an altogether productive evening. She was beginning to enjoy, in a morbid way, the looks of terror that came across the faces of the scum and filth that inhabited the streets, whenever they saw her coming. She had spent the better part of the past six weeks trying to break up a child trafficking ring in Chinatown. She was making progress. She walked into the bathroom and splashed cold water on her face. She looked at herself in the mirror, she wondered to herself, how long this lasted. She was doing good, she was helping the world, but she was still alone. She remembered something that had been in Rorschach's journal. He had said, "we are alone. Live our lives lacking anything better to do, devise reason later. Born from oblivion, bear children, hell bound as ourselves, go into oblivion." She stared at her face in the mirror, and wondered if she truly believed that. Logically there was no reason why she shouldn't, and she realized that in a strange twisted way. She trusted that masked man, who had already found his way into oblivion, more than she trusted any living human being.

"There has to be more Rorschach…" she whispered into the silence, knowing that no one would answer.

Just then the room began to vibrate, or rather Scarlet's perception of the room began to vibrate. She gripped the edges of the sink tightly and closed her eyes. She had come to be able to recognize the warning signs of when she was about to have a vision. Her visions had been growing more acute with time and she was learning how to control them more and more. Sometimes they were still just ten seconds in the future but they had gotten up two four or five months in the future with important things. Scarlet felt the familiar feeling as if she was speeding down a long corridor, and then suddenly she was standing on her own balcony, looking at herself. The future Scarlet was looking out over the city and she looked like she might have been crying. Suddenly Scarlet's heart skipped a beat. A man walked out of the apartment and over to future Scarlet. He was rather short compared to most men. Scarlet would have wagered there was barely and inch of height difference between him and herself. He wore a brown trench coat, and fedora, and a fascinating mask of black and white in which the black seemed to be constantly flowing and changing. The moment she saw him she knew who he was, but it was impossible. The man walked to future Scarlet and stood beside her.

"You promise me that you won't do anything stupid Rorschach…" said future Scarlet.

"Won't be stupid, just do what is necessary." said the man. His voice was low and gruff.

He turned to her and even though his eyes were hidden behind his mask future Scarlet seemed to be looking into them deeply. He reached up his gloved hand and touched her cheek.

"be back later" he said curtly, and he jumped over the rail.

Scarlet almost shrieked in panic before she realized he had hooked a grapple gun to the rail as he jumped. Suddenly she was flying backwards in time, she opened her eyes and was sitting on her bathroom floor. She sat there for a moment looking at the shower curtains, with their little blue flowers but not really seeing them. She was lost in her thoughts. Right before she had come back to reality she had seen a glimpse of her own face, and what she had seen there had frightened and confused her. Because she knew her own emotions, and it was completely obvious to her, that she had been hopelessly in love with the man on her balcony.

"But he's dead!" she said out loud to herself, "he can't be in my future if he's dead."

"_Well he was…" _answered the small voice inside her, _"So you should really stop trying to convince yourself that it's impossible, and start thinking about how it could BE possible."_

"Ok…" said Scarlet, talking to herself again, "I can't believe I'm about to say this, but let's go through all the possible ways that someone could come back from the dead."

She stood up, and looked in the mirror again. She wracked her brain for any plausible solution.

"Well sometimes people's hearts will start beating again but that happens minutes after they've died not years…." She ran her fingers through her hair and sighed. "and as amazing as Rorschach was he didn't exactly have any Christ-like attributes and those are the only two ways I can think of… so I'm out of ideas… GRAH!!! Adrian where's your super human brain when I need it??"

Suddenly Scarlet stopped and looked up into her own startled face. Thinking of Adrian had just reminded her of a conversation that they had years ago. Adrian told her all about Jon Osterman, a man who had been transformed through a nuclear accident, into Dr. Manhattan. He could control and anything in the universe. Adrian had told her in the end he left this world because he no longer could connect with human beings. But it was his last words to Adrian that she was remembering now. Adrian had told her in the last interaction he ever had with Jon, he had asked him why he would leave when he said he'd found a new appreciation for human life. Jon last words to him were, "I do appreciate human life… I think I'll make some."

"_He can create life… if he can do that, he can probably re-create it as well…"_ said the voice in Scarlet's head.

"Theoretically…. But how will I even find him, he could be anywhere in the universe!" said Scarlet.

"_and so can you…"_ prodded the voice, "_maybe the newest talent you've been working on isn't a coincidence, maybe this is what it was meant for."_

"Maybe…." Said Scarlet, and she turned to walk across the hall to her bedroom. She lay down on her bed and stared at the ceiling.

She was slightly afraid of what she was about to do, she had never tried it on this magnitude before, and she was unsure how far her power actually went before it ran out. She had never even gotten close to reaching that point. A few months earlier she began to work on using her "meta-cognition" as she called it, to try and reach out to others. As Adrian had said, it was as if she could function on a higher plane of consciousness and now that she had learned how to tap into that plane at will, she could search within her mind for others who were on it. She had done it several times, searching the entire world, but she had never found another human being whose consciousness was on the plane, but she had never tried to go beyond the bounds of Earth. She lay back on her bed and closed her eyes, she let consciousness move into the other plane and she felt as if she was leaving her body. There was no distinct place she went o it was as if she was floating in the darkness, it was only when she had a vision that the darkness became clear. Scarlet was not sure exactly how she knew what to do but she did, and on this night she pushed her mind farther than she ever had searching, and hoping for the faintest glimmer in the darkness. She lay silent for almost an hour willing her mind to search, suddenly she found it a flicker in the shadows, she willed herself to move towards it and it grew stronger. Jon looked at her with a calm yet slightly bemused look on his face.

"Hello…" he said, his voice was very even and nonchalant, "It is truly an honor to meet you, you are an exceptionally unique human being." He did not speak out loud; it was as if his voice was broadcast directly into her mind.

"Thank you ." thought Scarlet, and she knew he had heard her, it was very surreal experience. She looked curiously at the bright blue man, and made a mental note to someday ask Adrian how in the world he could have left that detail out when describing Jon. He reached out his hand to her and she took it tentatively.

There was a bright flash and suddenly Scarlet was standing in a vast Red desert, she looked at Jon and then gasped as she looked out at the Earth.

"Are we…" she began.

"On Mars yes… I find it a pleasing place to have important conversations." said Jon serenely.

They both stood there in silence for a moment looking out at the Earth.

"Do you understand the implications of what you are about to ask me to do?" said Jon.

"I wasn't actually sure what I was going to ask you yet…" said Scarlet slowly.

"You're going to ask me to bring Rorschach back to life." said Jon matter-of-factly.

"Can you do that?" Scarlet asked cautiously.

"Yes…." He said looking out over the earth, he continued, "It displeased me very much to kill Rorschach. He was a good man, with integrity. I would not wish more pain on him, I would never even consider what you are asking, under any circumstances but these."

"and what circumstances are these?" said Scarlet feeling confused. Adrian had told her about how talking with Jon could be maddening because the man saw the present and future simultaneously, and now she understood what he meant. She had an uncanny feeling that Jon knew her situation even more than she knew it herself.

"You understand him, and you will love him…" said Jon simply, "love is something he deserves to experience."

"So you'll bring him back…. For me?" said Scarlet tentatively.

"I will bring him back Scarlet… but his choices are still his own. " said Jon.

"thank you Jon…" said Scarlet breathlessly.

"You're very welcome Scarlet. I'm very intrigued by you, I have never met another creature like you anywhere in the universe. I would ask you to stay with me, but I have already seen where your heart lies." Jon gave her a smile and then turned away. "He'll be back on earth in a few hours…. Find him soon Scarlet, he will need you."

Scarlet sat up in her bed. She was shaking fro head to toe. She couldn't believe that had just happened. She had mentally gone to another universe and asked the most powerful man alive to bring someone back from the dead for her. It sounded like something out of an old comic book. She lay back down and slipped under her covers. She closed her eyes and let exhaustion overtake her, she was completely unsure of what might be coming tomorrow.

00000

Rorschach opened his eyes. The last thing he remembered was standing in front of Jon, and screaming for Jon to kill him. Now as he sat up he realized that Jon was once again standing in front of him. He looked down and saw that he was still wearing his outfit. Coat…gloves… he looked next to him and saw his hat…. and his face. He picked up the mask and touched it gently and then looked up into Jon's gaze.

"Manhattan… what's going on?" he said, "Where are we?" he stood to face him.

He looked around and saw he was in the middle of some vast red desert. He had a feeling he knew what the answer would be.

"We're on Mars Rorschach." said Jon, "I've just brought you back to life…"

"Back to life?" said Rorschach, "so did kill me." He stood slowly and faced the glowing man.

"Yes I killed you." Said Jon, "But you should know that I was very displeased to do it. You didn't deserve to die."

"Nice sentiment," said Rorschach, "but doesn't explain why brought me back."

"I brought you back, because there are some good things in this world, that you have yet to experience, and I have been convinced to let you have that chance." said Jon.

"Don't understand." said Rorschach.

"You will with time Rorschach." Said Jon calmly, "I'm sending you back to Earth now."

"Wait!" said Rorschach, but it was too late. There was a flash of blue light and suddenly he was standing in an alley just off of Time Square. He knew the place well. He shook his head once and then looked around. He was really back. Not that he had really been gone. To him he felt like he had been here just days earlier, before he and Dan had flown to Antarctica. How long had it been? He shook his head again as if he were trying to get his thoughts to settle. Well, he was alive again, so it was best to simply go back to doing what he did. He knew first things first he needed to find his one connection, he needed to find Daniel Dreiberg.


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Rorschach sat in the dark kitchen and he waited. It had taken him almost a week to track down Dreiberg. He was still living in New York City, but had taken a new name and moved into a new house, though the lock broke just as easily on the front door. . He now went by the name Sam Hollis. Appropriate, thought Rorschach, seeing as how he always did idolize Hollis Mason, the original Night Owl. In his research on Daniel, Rorschach had discovered that he was said to be married, upon examination of the house he found that a woman did seem to live there as well, most likely Laurie Juspeczyk, but then again, with the way she went through men, he wouldn't be surprised if it was someone new either. Rorschach read the newspaper as he scraped the bottom of the jar of applesauce he had taken from Daniel's refrigerator. It had been eight years, since he had died and many things had changed. He liked what he'd read so far about Ronald Reagan, he seemed to be an honest hard working man, not like Tricky Dick Nixon. Yet now Reagan was at the end of his time in office, and no one knew what the future might bring. Rorschach was just turning to the inside of the paper when he heard the front door open slowly.

"Hello…." said the voice that he knew so well, "who are you and why are you in my house??" said Daniel sharply.

Rorschach didn't move or answer him, he heard the foot steps coming down the hall, and Daniel slowly opened the kitchen door. He was older, small streaks of grey went throughout his hair, and the lines on his face were more defined but he was still Daniel. Rorschach was pleased to see that as soon as Daniel saw him he jumped into defense mode and was ready to fight, there was still a Watchman inside him after all.

"Who the hell are you? And what are you doing in my house? and where the hell did you get that mask??" said Daniel in alarm.

Rorschach slowly put down the jar and stood up. Daniel backed away fists raised ready for an attack, but Rorschach simply stood there.

"Hello Daniel…. It's been awhile." said Rorschach.

Daniel's eyes grew wide with surprise and shock; he began to tremble and collapsed against the counter looking at Rorschach in confusion and fear. Rorschach knew that after being partner's with Daniel for twenty years that just the sound of his voice, had been enough to convince Daniel that it was really him.

"You were dead…." Said Daniel weakly, pointing a finger at him in almost an accusatory manner. "I saw your body in the snow… or what was left of it… Jon killed you."

"Yes… I was dead…" said Rorschach taking his seat again and Daniel sat down across from him.

"Then how did you…." Daniel trailed off looking thoroughly bewildered.

"Our Lord Manhattan works in mysterious ways…" said Rorschach bitterly, " brought me back."

"Jon brought you back to life…." said Daniel, "But why would he do that?"

"No idea… said something about good things in the world I deserved to experience. Haven't found any yet. Just doing what needs to be done, as always. As long as I'm alive." said Rorschach.

"Well things have changed a lot since you….. left…" said Daniel.

"Noticing that." said Rorschach.

"Would you like a cup of coffee?" said Daniel as he stood to begin making it.

"yes thank you." said Rorschach.

"Your journal was published about six years after you died…. The New Frontiersman did a special issue with pieces from their crank file, and your journal entries where so popular they decided to make them a feature for awhile. I must say we were impressed how you managed to bring down Adrian, even after your death. His name has been drug through the mud because of you, and his business reputation has been severely damaged." Daniel handed him a cup of coffee.

"Good." said Rorschach as he accepted the cup and added a few cubes of Daniel's sugar to it.

"You on the other hand have become somewhat of a celebrity. There's been a lot of copycats over the years, and the city sort of considers you their hero now."

"Of course they do." Said Rorschach, "Martyrs are heroes, and men are simply men. That's the way it's always been. It's of no consequence to me. Always said, I'm not in it for the ink."

"Yes you did…." said Daniel looking at him curiously.

"So, hear you are still active Daniel. Impressive. How old are you now?" said Rorschach.

"I'll be forty nine next month, and yes I'm still active. The Night Owl never sleeps, and now that the Keen Act has been revoked I'm free to be the Night Owl again."

"humph… forty nine? You're older than me now Daniel." said Rorschach.

"Yeah I was meaning to ask you that…. So since you've been dead for the past eight years, does that mean you haven't aged?" said Daniel.

"As far as I can tell." said Rorschach. Daniel let out a low whistle and shook his head.

"So Miss Juspeczyk. Is she active as well?" asked Rorschach.

"Yeah… Laurie is my partner now, but she's not the Silk Specter anymore. She chose to take on a new identity that she felt was more evocative of her, more about practicality and efficiency in saving people, less about being a sex icon like her mother. She goes by the name Midnight Phantom now." explained Daniel.

"Admirable," said Rorschach, " hear we have someone here in New York to thank for the Keen Act."

"Yeah…. We do," said Dan taking a sip of his coffee and rubbing his eyes, it was obvious he was till trying to process how unbelievable the situation was, "Her name is Tessa Park, she came on the scene a few years back and she's made her way up in the ranks rather quickly, she absolutely ruthless in getting what she wants, all of New York either loves her or hates her. She's made quite a name for herself."

"Champion of the Watchmen…. I hear." said Rorschach.

"That's right…." said Dan, "no one has been able to figure out quite why she's so gung-ho about us…. Some speculate maybe her parents were Watchmen but I have no clue who they would have been. She came out of no where. She is a widow and Park is her married name, but she won't give the public any information on her past. She quite the mystery and New York is enthralled with her. Many people speculate she's a Watchman herself, but no one has been able to prove it, she leads a very private life."

"How old is she?" said Rorschach.

"Not sure… but she's young. I'd wager she's in her early thirties." said Dan.

"Widowed young…. Unfortunate." said Rorschach.

"Yes… she seems to be no stranger to hardship but she also seems as tough as nails, she's done a lot of good for the Watchmen in New York, things are almost as good for us these days as they were for the Minutemen in the fifties, and it's mostly because of her." said Dan.

"Huh… interesting..." said Rorschach and he stood to leave, "Mailbox says Mr. and Mrs. Hollis. You and Miss Juspeczyk married?"

"for all intents and purposes yes…" said Daniel.

"Are you happy?" Rorschach questioned.

"More than I have been in years." Daniel answered honestly.

"Good." Said Rorschach, "needed to know." With that he made his way towards the back door of the house.

"Rorschach… what are you going to do now?" said Daniel looking at him in concern.

"Do what I do. That's the way it's always been. Nothing's changed for me." said Rorschach, he opened the door but Daniel said his name again, he paused.

"Don't be a stranger ok?" said Daniel slightly awkwardly, their friendship had always been somewhat tense.

"Ok," said Rorschach, and he walked out the door.

Rorschach walked the streets alone in the darkness; it was all coming back to him. The stink of the sewers mixing with the cheap perfume of the prostitutes that propositioned him. His rotting city, there was a strange comfort in the fact it had not changed. He had not changed, and the only thing to do was to continue on, no compromise, no giving up. He turned into an alley way that he knew would take him to O'Malley's bar. He had gotten a tip earlier in the week that a convicted pedophile who had escaped jail time by bribing the cops frequented there, and he was going to go get information, his way. Suddenly two large men stepped in the alley way, Rorschach was completely unfazed, he had taken on men twice as big as them without a blink of an eye, if they didn't move, he make them live to regret it.

"Hey look who it is… Mr. Rorschach wanna be…" said one to the other.

"Thinks he's pretty tough doesn't he?" said the second.

Rorschach didn't slow his stride he walked straight for them. Suddenly he was surrounded by twenty five other men, they seemed to appear out of no where. He was instantly about to fight when he was grabbed from behind. He aimed a kick at his attacker but there were too many of them, they pinned him down.

"An ambush…" he thought to himself, "Stupid Rorschach! Stupid! You're getting soft, you should have anticipated this."

"so… " said the first man walking towards him, "Let's see what your ugly little face looks like.."

"NO…." growled Rorschach as the man reached for his mask, but his arms were pinned and he could not move.

Suddenly the man screamed in pain as his hand was pinned to side of the building by a knife. Everyone looked up quickly in the direction the knife had come from.

00000

Scarlet had spent the better part of her week looking for Rorschach. It wasn't even twenty four hours after her conversation with Jon when the whispers began that he was back. Criminals were quaking with fear. It was rumored he'd been seen on second street by a drug dealer who upon seeing him, took off and barely lived to tell the tale. He seemed to be making his usual rounds to some of the local underground hotspots and letting his presence be known, yet try as she might Scarlet could not seem to catch up with him. She was trying to be discrete, she knew he was a very private person, like her, and she didn't want to push herself on him. Then suddenly on Saturday night, she was sitting on the roof of the Hard Rock café in Time Square going over which area's she wanted to patrol that night, when she had a vision. Rorschach was in trouble pinned down by a massive group of rabble. They had ambushed him, she quickly took note of as much of the surrounding as she could before the vision ended. She sat there and concentrated. Suddenly she had it, there was a graffiti painting of a four leaf clover that said Lady Luck, that clover was painted on a wall in the alley behind O'Malley's bar. She jumped up and began running. Scarlet was an expert at running the rooftops of New York City, it was her most efficient means of transportation, but now she had to make it from Time Square to the lower East side as quickly as possible. She had no idea how far in the future that vision was, but she had a sneaking suspicion it was very soon. She made it to O'Malley's in about ten minutes and had to execute a particularly long jump to make it to the building that bordered the alley. Her momentum threw her into a flip and she landed in a crouched position near the edge of the roof. She stealthily snuck to the edge and looked over. He was there, after all her years of wondering and waiting she was looking down into the alley at the one man she had always wished she could see again. Yet he was in trouble the thugs had him pinned and their leader was moving to take off his mask. Scarlet quickly reached into her coat and pulled eight knives out of their pockets, holding one between each of her fingers. She took aim and threw one, pinning the man's hand to the wall. He screamed in agony and everyone looked up to where she was standing. Before they even had time to react Scarlet threw the other seven knives killing the seven men closest to Rorschach. As soon as he was free he expertly attacked the man with his hand pinned to the wall killing him in seconds. There were about fifteen men left and they were all slightly confused and terrified. It would be an easy fight for the two of them. Scarlet jumped off the roof and slid expertly down the drain pipe in seconds landing gracefully in the street. Four of the thugs ran at her but she pulled out the two larger blades and in a matter of seconds they were all dead at her feet. She heard a scream and looked over in time to see that Rorschach had given his assailant a compound fracture to the femur, and flipped another over his back and crushed his head into the brick wall. After a few more minutes of fighting the ground was strewn with either dead of gravely injured men. Scarlet's heart was beating fast as she finally looked up at the man she had been waiting to meet since she was ten years old.

"Thank you." He said in the same gruff voice she had heard in her vision.

"Not a problem…" she said.

"Saved my life." said Rorschach.

"Well Watchmen stick up for each other." said Scarlet, she was terribly nervous to be talking with him, but surprised at how well she was keeping her cool.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Scarlet Carson…." She answered, "and you're Rorschach."

"You know me?" he said.

"Everybody knows you." She answered.

"Don't' think I'm an imposter?" he said questioningly.

"No I don't…" said Scarlet, "I know your mask, no one else has ever had a mask even close to that. So it has to be you."

"Huh…" said Rorschach. "Interesting."

"Well I think you can handle yourself now… so I'll head out. See you around Rorschach." said Scarlet, trying her best to sound nonchalant.

"See you around…" he echoed absentmindedly.

Scarlet jumped up and deftly grabbed the ladder of the fire escaped and swung herself up on it. She began to climb the stairs to the roof, but then she had a burst of courage and she turned back.

"I'm working on busting up a child trafficking ring in China town most nights. I'm making progress but I could use a little more man power to lean on some of the more resilient ones. If you're interested…. So maybe I'll see you there." She said, and with that she jumped up on the roof wand walked away.

As soon as she was out of his sight she let out the breath it felt like she'd been holding for the past ten minutes and put a hand on her heart which was beating wildly, she shook her head and then a small smile escaped her lips.

00000

Rorschach watched the place where the mysterious woman had disappeared. The Scarlet Carson, he had never heard of her but she seemed vaguely interesting. Her costume was not the flashy gaudy kind of thing that Laurie Juspeczyk wore, it was almost the same sort of thing you would see on a man, and with her short black hair there was something strangely androgynous about her. She seemed in most ways unremarkable, she could fight that was obvious, but so could many others. Yet she did save his life, even though she didn't even know him. Huh… oh well, that was a puzzle that may be solved another day. For now O'Malley's awaited him, and the promise of answers and justice.


	4. Chapter 4

4.

"Be careful with that! Do you want to end up dead again?" said Daniel grabbing a strange looking contraption out of Rorschach's hand.

"You know maybe it's not such a good idea to have you down here, I've collected a lot of new gadgets over the years that are rather dangerous and you have a tendency to touch everything." said Daniel in a slightly annoyed voice.

They were in Daniel's basement. He had always used his basement as a lair to hide all the gismos and gadgets he created. This basement was bigger than his last, but it was just as well because he had filled it with more things.

"Sorry." Said Rorschach curtly and he stopped pacing and sat down on the steps.

"You wanna take Archie out?" said Daniel, "It's been awhile since we've worked together and I don't think Laurie would mind having the evening off. For old times sake?"

"Alright." said Rorschach.

They climbed into Archie, Daniel's flying ship, and Daniel directed her towards an old subway tunnel he had connected to his basement.

"I always have to pick my houses based on the old subway routes so I have a way to get Archie in and out…" he said absentmindedly as he steered them towards and old exit tunnel that came out near an abandoned scrap yard.

They flew Archie high into the air and settled above the cloud bank created by the smog. Daniel turned on the police scanner and they waited. They had done this many times before, when they didn't have a specific mission they waited for any signs of unrest. Talk wasn't necessary, they were used to the quiet and it wasn't uncomfortable for them. There were breaks in the clouds every once and awhile, and at one point Rorschach looked down and glimpsed the outskirts of Chinatown. This of course brought back the interesting incident he'd had almost a week before. He hadn't taken Scarlet up on her offer to help in Chinatown yet, mostly because he had no clue what to make of her.

"Daniel," he said, while still looking thoughtfully out into the clouds.

"Yeah…." said Daniel who also looked lost in thought.

"Ever head of Scarlet Carson?" said Rorschach.

Daniel sat up slightly in his chair and looked at Rorschach curiously, he was no longer distracted.

"Yeah of course I've heard of her, she's a New York legend. People have been saying she's you re-incarnate for years." said Daniel.

"How so?" said Rorschach.

"Well she's merciless for one thing. She's one of the most violent Watchmen alive, or she was before you came back. She cut six fingers off the hand of the godfather of the Italian mafia to get him to tell her who the mole was he had in the police force last year, and that was after she killed six of his body guards." explained Daniel.

"Hurm…" muttered Rorschach

"and her style of…. *ahem*…leaning on people, seems to be very similar to yours." said Daniel.

"Interesting." said Rorschach.

"Why did you ask me about her?" said Daniel, giving him another curious look.

"Met her." Said Rorschach, "Saved my life last week, was ambushed behind O'Malley's bar."

"You met her already?" said Daniel, "that's interesting…. Not many Watchmen have met her, she's very secretive. Laurie and I have never even seen a glimpse of her… she likes to work alone."

"Asked me to help her in Chinatown." said Rorschach.

"Really….." said Daniel, "are you going to?"

"Don't' know." said Rorschach,

There was a long pause, Daniel looked deep in thought.

"I think you should…." Said Daniel, "I mean you two are the most brutal Watchmen in New York at the moment, if you teamed up I don't think anyone would try and resist you."

"Don't need a partner… and from what you say, neither does she." said Rorschach.

"Yeah… but helping her with one thing wouldn't kill you." said Daniel.

"Maybe…." Muttered Rorschach, but just then someone came over the police scanner saying there was a multiple gang fight in Brooklyn, all units were being called upon.

"We can get there faster…" said Daniel.

"Then let's go." said Rorschach.

00000

"Tessa….Tessa…. earth to Tessa." Someone was waving their hand in front of her face.

Scarlet jumped and looked up apologetically at Ryan, one of her co-workers from the mayor's office.

"Sorry Ryan I've been a bit distracted today… what's up" she said.

Ryan gave her a curious look but then informed her that a group of them were going to a restaurant down the street for some lunch. She smiled and said she'd join them in a few minutes. The truth was Scarlet had been very distracted for the past two weeks. She had tried her best not to think about the encounter with Rorschach but she couldn't get it out of her mind. It didn't help that he hadn't shown up in Chinatown, which just made her worry that she had done something wrong.

"Oh stop obsessing! You're making it seem like your whole life depends on this, it's pathetic!" she said to herself, "You were fine before without him… you'll be fine now."

Scarlet stopped quickly she had almost tripped over the bum, who had made the court house steps his daily haunt. He had shown up a little over a month ago, and simply sat there with a cardboard sign propped up next to him that said, "Can you see?" She glanced down at the man as she kept walking, he didn't meet her eye, he simply stared off into space, like a statue. Scarlet pulled he coat tighter around her, it was a cold windy day. She ran down the street towards the restaurant. When she got there a group of her office associates waved to her from a large round table. She was sure that these people would have called her a friend, by societies standards that's what they were, her friends, but she didn't see them that way. She didn't have friends.

"So Tessa? How the Police/Watchmen collaboration project coming?" said a girl named Vikki.

"It's moving along quite nicely, we've hit a couple snags as of late… but I think we'll work through them." said Scarlet honestly. The waitress came over and they all ordered their drinks. Ryan bought a bottle of wine for everyone, but Scarlet ordered and iced tea, she didn't drink.

"I bet one of those snags is the fact that Rorschach is back." said Ryan knowingly, as he poured wine in people's glasses. "I doubt the police are too fond of giving him the full power of the law."

"Ryan don't be absurd," said a girl named Melissa, "you say that like it's actually him, and everyone knows he's dead. It's an imposter."

"How do we know he's dead?" retorted Ryan, "the only people who saw him supposedly die, were Watchmen, he was supposedly killed by Doctor Manhattan for Christ's sake! Convenient story isn't it? Cuz if what they say about 'Nam is true when Doctor Manhattan kills somebody there's nothing left. How do you know they didn't lie about him dying so he could go into hiding? Huh?"

"He DID 'die' right after he broke out of prison," pointed out Bailey, another man from the office, "death is a very air tight alibi for someone who wants to disappear."

"but then why would he come back?" said Melissa pointedly.

"because people don't hate him anymore…" said Ryan, "ever since that 'effing journal hit the stands people see him as some kind of hero. It's like his past just got erased…"

"Personal grudge much Ryan?" said Bailey.

"that mother fucker broke my Dad's arm when I was twelve, and my Dad didn't even do anything! He was just sitting in one of the underworld bars and that bastard showed up and started breaking people's arms asking for information, and nobody even knew anything!" said Ryan.

"What was your Dad doing in an underworld bar?" asked Scarlet.

Ryan shifted uncomfortably as he looked at her.

"My Dad had a bit of a gambling problem… so he was doing some odd jobs for the Moroni's to pay off his debts, but he never killed anybody or anything like that! He was just trying to protect me and my sister!" said Ryan defensively.

"Seems like a better way to do that would have been to not gamble…" muttered Scarlet under her breath. This is why she did not make friends, because they didn't understand her, when she had heard Ryan's story she had been filled with pride. Rorschach made people fear him, and fear was the greatest tool of control, with a lot of the scum in New York, it was the only tool.

Scarlet made her way make to the office after lunch. She saw the bum sitting on the steps again. This time he was looking at her.

"Hello…" she said with a smile, "Anybody seeing any better today?"

The man looked at her curiously and shook his head, but she thought she saw the hint of a smile play across his lips.

"Well see you around." She said, and the man nodded in response before going back to staring blankly out at the city. Scarlet turned and ran up the stairs to get inside and out of the chilly air.

That night Scarlet walked the streets of Chinatown. It was well after mid-night and the only people out were the kind who didn't want to be seen in the daylight. Most of the pimps and whores disappeared quickly into the shadows when they saw her coming. She smiled to herself; they knew her all too well here. She was on her way to a bar called the Flying Dragon. She knew that many of the lower members of the child trafficking ring frequented there. She still hadn't seen any sign of Rorschach, but she was beginning to be ok with it. Jon had said his choices were his own, maybe this was simply the choice he'd made, she should never have had any kind of hope that he would become part of her life. He was a loner, like her, and they didn't seek out others.

"Miss Carson."

The voice came from the alley to her right and the minute she heard it she felt as though her stomach had dropped to her toes. Rorschach stepped out of the shadow and stood in front of her. It was her first chance to see him up close. He was a very small man, in fact with her jack boots on she was about a half inch taller than him, though she wagered in her bare feet they would be exactly the same height. Even though he was small in stature there was something about the way he held himself that made him extremely intimidating.

"Rorschach…. Good to see you." said Scarlet.

"You needed my help?" he said, and he stepped back into the cover darkness the alley provided. Scarlet took his cue and followed him.

"I've been working a bar down the road for the past three weeks…." explained Scarlet as she leaned against the alley wall. "The lower level guys crack pretty easy, they've seen me coming so many times now that they usually just tell me what I want to know and run away."

"Typical." grunted Rorschach; he was standing opposite her, with his hands in his pockets.

"It's when I get to the middle level guys that I hit a wall." continued Scarlet, "this group is hard core, I've never seen anything like them, they have been trained for torture, and they will die before giving anything up. I've broken almost every bone in some of their bodies, a few have lost fingers… and nothing…."

"Hrmm… so you think I might have , more inventive approach?" said Rorschach.

"That was my hope…." said Scarlet, "you do have quite a reputation."

"Let s go then." He said curtly, and he walked into the street.

They walked silently side by side, Scarlet couldn't help but steal glances at him every few moments. It was surreal to her that she was actually walking down the street next to him, after all this time, they were really working together. She made her way to the door of the bar and she opened it. She walked into the smoky bar and looked around most of the people in the bar looked up at her warily and moved out of the way as she headed towards what she knew was the back room.

"Oh not tonight Scarlet…" said Lee Chun, the little old bar tender, "Every night you do this, and nothing, can't we have one night of peace?"

"Tonight's a bit different Lee Chun." Said Scarlet, "I brought some back up, if all goes well, you may not see me for quite sometime."

Rorschach had hung back when she walked in but he now followed her. He had a certain way of entering a room, he was casual and relaxed but somehow still caused an air of fear to cover the whole room. He sauntered across the room hands still in his pockets and stood next to Scarlet.

"Holy shit…. It's him…" she heard one of the thugs behind her whisper, and she smirked at the distinct sound of many chairs scraping the floor as people moved quickly for the door.

Lee Chun looked warily at the two of them and then shook his head.

"Just try not to make too big of a mess this time please?" he said. Scarlet nodded and kicked open the door to the back room and walked in, once again Rorschach hung back.

"Hey Joey…" she said almost conversationally to the tall greasy looking Chinese man who had looked up from the pool table at her entrance. "How are you this evening?"

"Oh Jesus Scarlet…. Can't you leave us alone already, My left leg has been acting funny ever since you broke my knee cap, and you know I'm not telling you anything…. So why waste your energy." He said, and he went back to his pool game.

"Yeah we've done that routine before haven't we Joey," said Scarlet, "That's why I thought we'd mix things up tonight… I brought a friend of mine for you to play with…"

"What the hell…." Said Joey, but as the words were coming out of his mouth Rorschach stepped into the doorway, he cocked his head to the side in almost a curious way and looked at Joey.

"God Damn it!" said Joey, and his hand absentmindedly went to the leg Scarlet knew still gave him issues, "This is going to be a long night… but still there's nothing you can do to me that will break me, I've been trained to with stand any kind of pain."

"Hrmph." said Rorschach, and he began to advance across the room. Joey backed away instinctive, no matter how much he talked he did fear the pain, but Rorschach walked right past him, and to the girl who sat on the couch behind him. She looked up at him in terror and he grabbed her.

"Get your fucking hands off her!!" yelled Joey, "I swear to God I'll kill you."

He made to move towards Rorschach but Scarlet grabbed him and put a knife to his throat.

"No you don't Joey… you know how to make this stop." She said. "Now give us the names."

"I can't…." said Joey, "I'm so sorry baby…" he said as he looked into his girlfriends face.

_Snap!!_ The girl screamed in agony as her arm was broken.

"You bastard!!!!" yelled Joey, and he struggled but Scarlet held him tight.

"Just give us the names Joey…" she said.

"Scarlet they'll kill me…" he said his voice thick with emotion.

"I'll kill her…" said Rorschach, "So you make the choice… who's life is more important…. Yours… or hers?"

There was a long pause and Rorschach grabbed the girls other arm. She screamed in fear and began to sob.

"FINE!!!" said Joey, "I'll tell you, just don't hurt her anymore….the name you need is Phoenix that's what he goes by and I DON'T KNOW his real name."

"That's enough…." said Scarlet, and she let Joey go, he ran to his girlfriend who Rorschach dropped into his arms.

"Take her to a hospital." He said, and walked to the door with Scarlet close behind.

When they got out into the street Scarlet turned to look at him.

"Thank you…" she said, she felt like there were so many more things she wanted to say but she wasn't sure how.

"You're welcome." said Rorschach, but he did not face her.

Scarlet wanted to ask him about the girl, but she wasn't sure where to start, she felt slightly bad for her, but not much. If she wanted to be with a man like that, she had to accept the consequences.

"Girl will be fine…" said Rorschach, as if reading her mind, "made sure it was a clean break, if he takes her to the hospital, she'll be healed in three or four weeks."

"Good…" said Scarlet, and they began to walk back down the street together, "so about this Phoenix guy…" she said.

"Don't think we should go after him tonight.." said Rorschach, "unlikely Joey will risk his own neck to warn them, and we need time to plan. Also, not meaning to offend, but look like you could use some sleep Miss Scarlet."

Scarlet felt herself blush slightly and she purposefully looked away from him. Not only was she touched that he seemed to care for her physical well being somewhat, but he had said "_we_ need time to plan." Which meant he was planning on continuing to help her, at least until this job was done…

"Ok…" said Scarlet, "I'll do some digging and see what I can find out about this guy…"

"I'll do the same…" said Rorschach, "If you need to reach me, leave message in garbage can across the street from the Gunga Diner. Know it?"

"Yeah I do…." said Scarlet, she hesitated. She knew what she wanted to say to him, but she was worried that maybe she shouldn't, suddenly she decided to throw caution to think wind and just go for it.

"If _you_ need to reach _me_, you can just come to the Market Street Towers, apartment 1306." She said.

Rorschach stopped and turned back to her, they had made there way back into the alley where he had first met up with her.

" telling me where you live?" he said slightly incredulously.

"Why not?" said Scarlet, "You seem like the kind of Watchmen I can trust, you know how to keep our secrets."

"Hmmp.." said Rorschach, and he pulled out his grappling gun and pointed it at the roof top, "talk to you soon." He said, and then he was gone.


	5. Chapter 5

5.

Rorschach sat in the diner drinking a cup of coffee and watching his mail delivery. There had been nothing for the past week. This did not faze him much; he had been conducting an investigation on the name he and Scarlet had acquired, Phoenix. In truth he had been doing just as much investigation on Scarlet herself, though despite his best efforts he had learned very little. She had turned up in New York three years ago, no one knew her by any other name than Scarlet, she never had a partner, she never associated with any of the other Watchmen, until him. He pulled a scrap of paper out of his pocket, he had written down her address almost a week ago. He was still hesitant to go there. She made him uncomfortable, first of all she was a woman, he always found dealings with women unpleasant. Secondly he found her puzzlingly interesting and it made him ill at ease. He stuffed the piece of paper back in his pocket, threw a dollar on the table and walked out into the street. It was dusk and a slow cold drizzle had been coming down steadily for hours. He walked the streets that were so familiar to him until he came to his apartment building, he slowly climbed the stairs to his small drab apartment. When he got inside he went to his room and sat down on his bed. He stared at the patterns that the rain made as it snaked it's way down his window in small drops, that connected into streams of water. He shook his head and made a decision, he was going to go. He had questions, and the only way he would get answers was to ask Scarlet. He had been to the houses of countless people to interrogate them, why should she be any different.

"She isn't…" he said to himself, and he turned to his closet to don his true identity.

0000

Scarlet watched the spirals of steam rise from her cup of tea. She sat in the semi-darkness of her apartment. There were no lights on, she enjoyed the silence and darkness on days like today. She absentmindedly swirled the tea with her finger and looked at the photo album she had open in her lap. The picture she was looking at was of her and Timothy, they were at Coney Island on the Ferris wheel and they were laughing hysterically. She absentmindedly touched his face; she always missed him more on days like today. Just then a loud sound from the balcony made her jump; she tensed immediately and slid her hand under the couch cushion where she kept one of her knives hidden. She saw that the noise came from a grappling hook that had been thrown over the railing of her balcony. She pulled the knife out and held it concealed in the palm of her hand as she waited tensely for her unknown visitor. Rorschach landed nimbly on the railing and then stepped off onto her balcony and looked through the window. She relaxed immediately when she saw him but he stood there looking at her with what she was sure was surprise, even though she couldn't see his face. She walked over to the sliding glass door and opened it.

"Hello Rorschach," she said, "would you like to come in?"

He slowly stepped over the threshold into her apartment but stood by the door simply looking at her.

"You're Tessa Park." He said.

"Yes I am…." She said, as she moved to take her place back on the couch, he didn't move.

"Didn't expect that." He said.

She simply shrugged, not knowing what else to say.

"So Tessa Park is the champion of the Watchmen because she is one…" said Rorschach, there was a slightly bitter and accusatory tone in his voice, and Scarlet was faintly offended.

"Tessa Park is the champion of the Watchmen because the Watchmen deserve someone who fights for them." Her voice laced with defensiveness.

Rorschach began to walk around the apartment looking at her things sometimes picking them up to examine them. She watched him from her spot on the couch.

"Why are you sitting in the dark?" he asked.

"On rainy days I like to sit and think and I hadn't gotten up to turn on the lights yet." She answered; she picked up her cup and took a sip of her tea.

"What are you drinking?" said Rorschach, the accusatory tone in his voice again.

"Herbal tea…." said Scarlet dryly, giving him a brief glare.

Rorschach made an indifferent grunt and then continued his examination of her apartment.

"Not meaning to be rude Rorschach… but is there some reason why you've shown up today?" said Scarlet, she didn't want him to feel like she was trying to get rid of him, but she was definitely not at her best and she wasn't sure if she could deal with him at that particular moment.

Rorschach looked like he was about to answer her but then he stopped dead. He was looking at her mantle, where she had a row of pictures lined up. He slowly reached his hand out and picked up the picture of a smiling little girl with pig tails.

"Why do you have this." He said, his voice was hard and his words were clipped.

"Because she was my sister…" said Scarlet softly.

Rorschach whirled around to face her, she couldn't see his face but they held each other gaze for a moment all the same.

"Would you like to hear my story?" asked Scarlet.

Rorschach nodded slowly and he sat down in the chair farthest from the couch and looked at her expectantly.

"First off let's hear what you know about me… I know you've been checking up on me." She said matter-of-factly.

"Not much… keep to yourself Scarlet." He said.

"Yes I do… but I was wondering more what you found out about Tessa Park." She prodded.

"Still not much…. Came back to New York three years ago… worked with the Revolution Movement until you were hired by the mayor." He said.

"You said I came back, so you know I lived here before…" said Scarlet.

"Found one reference in newspaper from 1985…" said Rorschach.

"Yeah what was that?" said Scarlet softly, she already knew the answer.

"Obituary…" said Rorschach, "Timothy Park, murdered on October 12, 1985, lived in Bronx. No living family, save wife Tessa."

"Yeah…" she said quietly, and she looked down into her tea cup and took a sip to ease the burning in her throat.

"How did he die?" said Rorschach.

Scarlet took a deep breath and looked up at him.

"Well that would be starting the story in the middle, besides you still want to find out about that picture right?" she said, he didn't answer so she continued, she shifted her weight so she was facing him completely and leaned forward slightly to begin her story.

"I was born Teresa Juliet Roche, my parents were John and Mary Roche. My father was a bus driver in the Bronx, and my mother was a home maker. I had a very pleasant childhood, we never had a lot but we never went hungry either. When I was four years old my mother gave birth to my little sister. Blaire Evangeline Roche. From the moment she was born I adored Blaire she was the most wonderful little girl you could ever imagine, and I was her hero in every way." Scarlet realized she had been staring off into space lost in her own memories. She looked back up at Rorschach and saw he was listening to her with rapt attention.

"When I was ten years old my mother took Blaire and I to the grocery store, Blaire was six and I remember that she was in a bad mood that day. She kept complaining she wanted to go out front and ride the mechanical horse ride, my mother said no but Blaire kept complaining. My mother always let me help her pick out the fruit, it was my favorite job. I was picking out apples and Mom was holding the bag for me when suddenly we realized Blaire wasn't in the cart anymore. We assumed she had gone outside to ride the horse so we ran out there looking for her. She wasn't there. We looked all through the store and they even ended up closing the store down so we could search, but Blaire was gone. The police got involved that night."

Rorschach had taken off his fedora and put his head in his hands, even with the mask on Scarlet could tell her story was causing him to become lost in his own memories as well.

"A week later a man showed up at my house late at night to talk to my parents…" said Scarlet slowly, once again Rorschach looked up at her and held her gaze.

"I was supposed to be in bed but I snuck to the stair case and peeked into the living room. I heard him tell my parents that he would find my sister, and he promised he would bring her back unharmed. Then he stood up to leave, all I ever saw was his back as he left my house, and I never found out his name…. until years later." Rorschach had not looked away from her the whole time she was speaking and now the silence grew between them as they gazed at each other. He looked like he might be about to say something she didn't let him, she quickly continued her story.

"I never saw that man again." She said, "but it was almost six months later when the police identified the remains of my sister in the yard of a burned down apartment building. Two weeks after they informed us of Blaire's death a note was left on our doorstep. It said; _I'm sorry I couldn't save her, but rest assured I gave her justice,_ and it was signed with a peculiar symbol. Two r's that were mirrored, my father kept that note till the day of his death. When he died…." She flipped to the very back of the photo album and pulled out a very old looking and stained scrap of paper.

"You kept it…" mumbled Rorschach in disbelieve.

"Yeah I did…" said Scarlet, "It reminded me that there were still heroes out there…"

"Heroes…." muttered Rorschach and he shook his head.

"Six days after my twelfth birthday I walked into my parent's bedroom at noon, because they still hadn't gotten out of bed. I found them both lying in bed with an empty bottle of pills in my mother's hand. They left a note that basically said they were sorry, but the just couldn't face another day in a world like this one. I think they honestly wanted to kill me too… but in the end they couldn't go through with it. Anyway, social services found me four days later and they put me in a home…. I lived there for two years before I ran away, I had had enough of that kind of life, and I wanted something more."

Scarlet put down her now empty tea mug and looked around.

"I'm hungry…." She said, "I think I'll make spaghetti, would you like some?"

"If you're offering." said Rorschach.

Scarlet got up and headed to the kitchen she turned lights on as she went so the apartment was filled with warm light. Rorschach got up and followed a little ways behind her, he leaned against the doorway that lead into the kitchen and watched her as she began to boil water and got out the sauce and noodles.

"Where did you go after you left the home?" asked Rorschach.

"I lied about my age and began working in a diner, while I lived at the YMCA." She said. "I wasn't proud of lying, but I didn't want to steal I wanted to earn my own food. While I lived at the Y I began sitting in on all the judo, karate, kick boxing, and self defense lesson I could. I was ready to live a different sort of life. I became Scarlet when I was fifteen. Well… I began taking on the persona of Scarlet when I was fifteen, but really I was just Tessa pretending to be Scarlet. I was still very young and naïve."

"When did that change…" said Rorschach.

"You're getting ahead of the story again… be patient!" said Scarlet, she poured the noodles into the now boiling water.

"When I was sixteen something happened that changed my life." said Scarlet. "I met Alexandria. She was sixteen like me, and an orphan like me. We lived together at the Y for awhile but then ended up renting our own small shabby apartment with the money we both made waitressing. The best thing about Alexa though is that she was just as passionate as I was about her double life. Jade Phoenix, she called herself. She had been at it longer than I had, she had started when she was very young, she is the one who taught me how to use knives. She was the perfect partner, and the only partner I have ever had, until the day it all went wrong."

"How?" said Rorschach.

"I decided I wanted out. I didn't want to be Scarlet anymore…." said Scarlet.

"Why?" said Rorschach.

"The most common reason people do silly things in this world." said Scarlet, she dished the spaghetti onto two plates and brought one to Rorschach.

"I fell in love." She said as she handed him the plate.

Rorschach politely asked her if he could eat in the living room, she said yes and he took a place on the couch with his back to where she sat at the table.

"So you were in love." He said prompting her to continue, she took note of the difference in his voice when his mask was not covering his mouth, it was still low a gruff but there was something softer about it.

"I met Timothy at the diner when I was seventeen; he was the kindest most sincere person I had ever met. I tended to be very abrasive and push people away but Tim just didn't let me. He made me fall in love with him by sheer stubbornness. When we were nineteen he asked me to marry him and I said yes. Alexandria was furious, she told me that if I thought I could go live a simple life with a husband and kids and be just like every other naïve human being then I was crazy, she told me I'd never be like them and it was pointless to try. I told her she was wrong, and I didn't care what she said, I was living my life the way I wanted. She told me I was a fool and walked out the door… I never saw her again."

"But she was right…" said Rorschach.

"Yes she was… but I don't' think even she understood why… it took me a long time to understand." said Scarlet.

"So what happened?" said Rorschach, he had finished his meal, he pulled his mask back over his face and took his plate to the kitchen, he came and sat down in the chair across the table from her.

"Timothy was Chinese/American his grandparents migrated here when his mother was five, he himself had never been out of New York City." Scarlet sighed and pressed her palms to her forehead, now they were getting into the heavy stuff, "In 1985, after three wonderfully happy years of marriage, I was walking home from work, and I saw fire burning in front of my house. I ran down the street….. and Timothy's body was hanging from the telephone pole burning." Tears leaked out the corners of Scarlet's eyes as she spoke, and she brushed them away.

"there was a sign under him that said, "Kill all the fucking Commie Gooks." Gang violence was very big in our neighborhood, and many of our neighbors were still very bitter about Vietnam. Someone later told me they had ambushed Tim on his way back from work…. He was just as American as anyone else… just as loyal, and true to his country, he just had the wrong color of skin…" Scarlet stared off into space.

"That night everything changed…. It was Tessa Park, who sat in the street crying, but when the tears were gone… it was Scarlet Carson who stood, from that moment on I knew…. Humanity is flawed… broken…. Deformed… the only way to exist is to fight the very nature of what makes us human, in ourselves and in everyone around us." She said, "That's what I meant when I said Alexandria didn't understand…. It wasn't that I couldn't be a normal person, it's that in the end, being normal is being depraved, and the only way to live is to fight normality and punish depravity, to strive to more than simply human, because that's not good enough."

They sat there in complete silence. The only sound was the soft patter of the rain on the windows.

"Why did you leave?" said Rorschach finally.

Scarlet sighed and looked at the clock on the wall.

"I'm afraid that will have to be a story for another time. It's getting late, and we should both be out doing our job." She said.

"Good point." Said Rorschach, standing to leave, he retrieved his hat from the chair and made his way to the balcony.

"Thank you for dinner…" he said. "and your story."

"No problem…." said Scarlet, "I'm making chicken noodle soup tomorrow." She said with a smile.

Rorschach tipped his hat to her politely, and then hooked his grappling hook over the banister and disappeared.

00000

Rorschach looked back up at the balcony high above him. He saw the light go off, and he knew Scarlet was getting ready to head out herself. He now had to admit that she was a thoroughly fascinating creature. The fact that their pasts were so similar and also so intricately entwined was puzzling, and the thing that was even more curious was how much she…. Thought like him. He had never met another person who he seemed to intrinsically understand the way he did her. He was very unsettled by the thought, he was not used to having the unavoidable connection to another human being, and he was not at all sure that he liked it. He put his hands in his pockets and walked away.


	6. Chapter 6

6.

Scarlet was dragging her feet as she exited the elevator and made her way down the hall towards her apartment. She looked at her watch, it was eight fifteen. She groaned, she had been kept almost three hours late at work trying to re-work the new law she was trying to get enacted. As her co-worker Ryan had expected the police chief was much more hesitant about collaboration with the Watchmen now that Rorschach was back, and they were have to add quite a few clauses to their proposal to keep him happy.

Scarlet went to put her key in the lock on her front door, but it was already open. She froze, that meant someone was already in her apartment. She slowly and cautiously pushed the door open and was met by a delicious smell. She walked in curiously and saw a figure she was beginning to know quite well standing in her kitchen. He turned to face her, as he put back on his gloves.

"Chicken soup right?" said Rorschach, "started it myself, hope you don't' mind."

"That's fine…" said Scarlet slowly, she hung her coat on the hanger next to the door, it had been almost ten years since she had come home to find someone waiting for her, and it was a very surreal experience.

Scarlet went into the kitchen and looked into the pot on the stove, there was a thick chicken vegetable soup bubbling inside and smelling absolutely mouth watering. She stirred the soup and then began getting out the ingredients to make salad. As soon as she had entered the kitchen Rorschach had retreated to a chair in the dining room, where he sat now watching her.

"came home late…" he said.

"Yeah I had a bit of a rough day…" said Scarlet, "I'm trying to get a law passed that lets Watchmen have the same rights as police, and work with the police force in bringing in criminals, but we've hit a few snags." said Scarlet as she got the food ready.

"What kind of snags?" said Rorschach.

"Well…. You actually." Said Scarlet, "the police force isn't too comfortable with giving you the full jurisdiction of the law."

"Understandable." Said Rorschach as he picked up his portion of the food and retreated to his position on the couch facing away from her.

They both ate in silence for awhile. Scarlet had to admit the soup was absolutely delicious, much better than she could have made it. She wouldn't have guessed Rorschach to be adept at cooking as well, but he did seem to be continually surprising her.

"So how was your day…" she said absentmindedly after a few minutes, it was amazing to her how quickly she had become at ease around him.

"Uneventful." Answered Rorschach, "but found out more about Phoenix last night. Few more days…. Then we can move in."

"Yeah I've been working my contacts as well…" said Scarlet, "what have you got?"

"Works from east Manhattan, the Strong Building, guards are minimal because he relies on the secrecy of the clan. Shouldn't be too much trouble, but want to observe for a few more nights… just to be safe." said Rorschach.

"Yeah that's probably wise…" said Scarlet.

Rorschach had finished his meal and he took his dishes to the kitchen. Scarlet decided she was done as well and followed him to put hers in the sink. Her kitchen was rather small so as they came even with each other their shoulders brushed against each other. Scarlet felt him tense and he quickly stepped away and went back into the living room. Scarlet didn't take it personally, if there was one thing she had been picking up on over the past few days it was the apparent internal struggle he was having. It seemed as though part of him wanted to come and see her and learn about her, but there was another part of him that found the whole situation awkward and unpleasant, she was doing her best to give him space and make him comfortable, but she wasn't sure what else she could do, coming here was his choice.

Scarlet grabbed her migraine medicine off the counter and got a glass of water, she could feel the headache starting in the base of her skull and she knew if she didn't take care of it now, she'd be out of commission for the night. Migraines were one of the unfortunate side effects of her… abilities. She went to the living room, and sat down in one of the arm chairs. She opened the bottle of pills and popped two in her mouth and took a gulp of water.

"What are those?" said Rorschach, who was sitting on the couch, he pick up the bottle and examined it, the slightly judgmental tone was back in his voice.

"They're pills for headaches… I have chronic ones… I have my prescription for them in the kitchen do you want to see it?" said Scarlet a bit irritably as she gave him a glare.

"No." he said simply and he put the bottle down.

"Rorschach listen to me…" said Scarlet pointedly, "I don't drink… I don't do drugs of any kind prescription or non, I don't smoke, I don't' even eat junk food. Do you know why?"

"No." said Rorschach.

"because my physical body is one of the main tools I use to fight against all the injustice and evil that on this decrepit planet, and if I don't do my best to take care of it and keep it at peak health, then there's no real point is there?" said Scarlet.

"I see…" said Rorschach.

"Sometimes I wish those naïve blind human beings out there would stop and take a moment to appreciate the amazing intricacies the body performs just to let them open their eyes every morning. Maybe then they wouldn't be so keen on stuffing it full of grease and fat from MacDonald's." spat Scarlet.

Scarlet stopped and looked at Rorschach he was sitting there and he seemed to be looking at her appraisingly, though she couldn't be quite sure.

"I'm sorry…" she said, "I'm getting up on my soap box a bit. I am just very passionate about taking care of the things I've been given."

"Don't' be sorry…" said Rorschach, "It's….. Admirable."

"Thank you…" said Scarlet with a shy smile; she hoped that the flush she felt in her face wasn't showing.

Rorschach didn't seem fazed he leaned back on the couch and seemed to look out the window.

"So why did you leave after you became Scarlet?" he asked again, picking up their previous conversation right where it had left off the night before.

"I left…. Because I needed to be trained." Said Scarlet, "I began to ask around for the name of the strongest most powerful Watchman, and one name always came back to me, Ozymandias. So I spent a year searching for him. "

Rorschach sat up quickly from his spot on the couch, and Scarlet did not need to see his face to know the shock and anger that must be there. She knew this was going to be the hardest story to tell.

"He's the one that trained you…" growled Rorschach, Scarlet could hear the anger in his voice, and even what she thought was a hint of betrayal, but maybe she just imagined that.

"Yes…" said Scarlet.

Rorschach stood up quickly a grabbed his hat, he had already opened the sliding glass door to the balcony when Scarlet got to him.

"Rorschach wait!" she said and she put a hand on his arm to hold him back. He shrugged her hand off roughly and made to keep walking.

"I didn't know what he did then…" she said quickly and he stopped he turned his body so he was facing her. They were standing with only and inch of space between them, yet the combination of his anger and his obvious awkwardness with being so close to her was causing an energy between them that felt like two magnets repelling each other.

"The minute he told me what he did I left him… forever… I haven't spoken to him since that day." She said, looking intently to where she knew his eyes were behind the mask.

"you were lovers." said Rorschach.

"No." said Scarlet, "never."

"I could never associate with someone like him… I think you know that. Once I knew who he truly was…. He...Was...My… enemy." Scarlet put careful emphasis on each of the last four words to show him how serious she was, and as she did she felt his anger begin to melt.

Suddenly as they stood there in silence a very new kind of tension began to grow between them. Scarlet could tell that Rorschach was feeling it too because after a few seconds he moved away from her and headed back into the house.

"Come on." He said, and his voice was calm again.

Rorschach sat down in one of living room chairs and Scarlet followed him carefully. She could tell he was not as relaxed as he was before, but he wanted to hear her explanation. She sat in her usual chair and looked at him.

"I found out that Adrian Veidt, or Ozymandias, was living in a place called Karnack, that he built in Antarctica, and I saved for a year to get enough money to go there. Finally I booked a charter plane and then hopped on an oil tanker off the coast of Argentina. When I finally made it to Karnack, I don' think Adrian really knew what to do with me, he told me he didn't want to train me at first, but I refused to leave… so he agreed. He trained me for four years before it happened." said Scarlet.

"Before what happened?" said Rorschach gruffly.

"Before I found out about you…." Said Scarlet softly, "…and what Adrian did."

Rorschach was silent. Scarlet looked up at him but he was looking at his hands, absentmindedly picking at one of the fingers on his glove. He seemed to still be brooding a bit, but he hadn't left.

"Adrian was the first one to ever tell me your name…" said Scarlet, "the day I found out that he killed all those people… and then killed you… because you were going to turn him in… I told him that I hated him… I told him I would forever be his enemy, and then I left Karnack. That's when I came back here, and started my work as Tessa Park. One of my biggest goals was to expose Adrian, I was furious with the other Watchmen for not doing it, but before I got a chance, you did it for me."

"what?" said Rorschach, giving her what she was sure was a quizzical look.

"You're journal…" she said.

"Oh right…" said Rorschach.

"You know I read every one of your entries that the New Frontiersman published. It made me feel like I was getting to know you a bit, it's a silly sentiment I know, but you have been a dark shadow in the back of my mind since I was a child, and I wanted to know you." She said carefully, it was the most straightforward she had been with him yet, and she wanted to gauge his reaction. He sighed and stood up.

"It's late…" he said, "should go." He walked to the sliding glass doors and opened them.

Scarlet stood and followed him as he made his way to the edge of the balcony. She hung back and stood in the doorway.

"Phoenix is in his office late most Friday's. Minimal security, should move in then." said Rorschach, as he hooked his grappling hook over the rail.

"Ok…" said Scarlet, "Rorschach… if I've offended you… I'm sorry… it wasn't intentional."

"NO….. haven't' offended." He said, and his voice was much kinder, "see you Friday." And with that he was gone.

00000

Rorschach walked the streets completely lost in his own thoughts. He was very disconcerted. He did not like this new situation at all. He felt as though he would have to accept the fact that Scarlet was his partner, or it least it seemed to be going that way. It felt the same as when he had met Daniel all those years ago, but at the same time it felt so distinctly…. different. That difference is what bothered him. He let the image of Scarlet come to his mind. She was, by society's standards, average. She didn't wear fancy clothes or a lot of makeup like other women, she was plain and natural. The thing he found most curious about her was the fact that when he was around her he found himself often forgetting the fact that she was a woman. He was always very uncomfortable around women, most of them only had one thing on their mind, and almost every single one of them had some ulterior motive that they refused to divulge, schemers and manipulators the entire gender, but for some reason, Scarlet was different. Having conversations with her was just as natural as having conversations with Daniel, if not more so because she understood him more. He realized he was beginning to consider Scarlet his friend, and what's more he was finding he had a growing level of respect for her as well. When she had told him she had been trained by Veidt, he had not just been angry, he had felt betrayed, and the emotion confused him. He shook his head and stuffed his hands deeper in his pockets as he walked. The whole situation was confusing and unnerving; he was not accustom to being confused by his own actions and emotions. He knew who he was and what he did. There were no alternatives, no excuses. Yet now he felt at war with himself, as much as he enjoyed Scarlet's company it was a struggle. As much as he could easily not view Scarlet as a woman, there were still times when he would catch himself noticing the smoothness of skin or rosy color of her lips and he would feel disgusted with himself. That was another reason why being around women was uncomfortable to him. Rorschach looked around and realized he had already walked almost fifteen blocks. He sighed and tried to clear his head, he couldn't let himself be distracted. The fact was that he would never change, he knew why he was on this earth and he would never stop, never surrender, Scarlet would either fit into that picture, or she would not, but wither way the picture would never alter.


	7. Chapter 7

7.

Scarlet was in a hurry. Then again, when was she ever not in a hurry. She rushed out the door of the courthouse and almost collided with her co-worker Bailey who was on his way in.

"Whoa there… what's the rush?" said Bailey with a chuckle.

"Sorry Bailey…." Said Scarlet, "I just have to get these documents delivered to the police chief before I go home for the day, and I have a private training room at the Parkers Gym on Twelfth Street from five thirty to seven and if I'm late they open it to the public!"

"Better hurry then…" said Bailey looking at his watch.

"I know!" said Scarlet and she rushed past him. She was half way down the steps when a huge gust of wind caught her and before she could get a better grip, her papers went flying out of her hands.

"Darn it all!!" she said in frustration, she stomped her foot and then bent down to start collecting the papers that were now all over the step. She picked up half of them and as she turned to pick up the rest she saw a hand holding them out to her. She looked up and saw that her Good Samaritan was none other than the vagrant who spent his days on the courthouse steps. He was holding the papers out to her and patiently waiting for her to take them. Scarlet was momentarily startled. She had never really taken a moment to look at the man and now that she did she was caught off guard by his eyes. They were bright blue and piercing, as if he was much wiser than you would guess at first glance, and they were offset perfectly by his vibrant red hair. Scarlet suddenly became aware that she was staring, so she grabbed the papers out of his hand quickly feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Thank you." She said, and he simply nodded and took his place back on his step looking out at the city. Scarlet ran down the steps and hailed a cab, but as the cab was pulling away she shot a glance back at the man sitting on the steps.

Scarlet arrived at the gym with minutes to spare. She was relieved. She took the keys to her private training room and she went in. This was one of her favorite times of the week, when she got to practice her fighting. The room she used suited her very well, it was large and open, it had a wall of targets for her knife practice and a row of punching bags for her to use for sparring, and also a lot of open floor space for her to practice some of her moves. The only windows in the room were near the ceiling, giving it a dark feeling that she enjoyed. She went into the dressing room that was adjacent and changed into her sweats and a t shirt. Then she came out and began to warm up, she always felt like as soon as she started training, all the stress of whatever had been bothering her throughout the day just melted away. After her warm ups she started on the punching bags, first kicks then punches, then combinations. She had to admit that she missed having someone to spar with, Adrian had always been a wonderful sparring buddy. Just then Scarlet heard a noise behind her. She turned around and saw Rorschach sitting in the window sill on the far end of the room.

"Are you following me?" she said giving him a look.

"No." he said simply and he nimbly jumped off the window sill and landed on the floor.

"You fight well." He said.

"Yeah well I was trained well…." said Scarlet turning her back on him and continuing to attack the punching bag.

"Veidt was expert fighter." said Rorschach, "Couldn't beat him. Always one step ahead."

Scarlet turned to look at him. She knew this was his way of saying that he was sorry he had accused her of being aligned with Adrian, and letting her know he was fine now.

"Would you like to fight _me_?" asked Scarlet.

"You? Now?" said Rorschach.

"Yeah…." said Scarlet, "I've been getting bored of practicing with these old bags…"

Rorschach didn't say anything and Scarlet could tell he trying to decide.

"What's the matter? Scared I'll beat you?" she said with a smirk.

"Don't have to bate me Scarlet…" said Rorschach, "I'll fight you."

"So how did you know I was here?" said Scarlet as she assumed a defensive position. They began to circle each other waiting to see who would attack first.

"Saw you." answered Rorschach. He made the first move, he came at her with a left hook but she quickly caught it and shoved it away, but she had to duck as he swung his leg around in an impressive kick.

Scarlet aimed a low kick but he jumped it easily, she threw a punch at his head but he grabbed her fist and spun her around. She nimbly twisted out of his grip and disengaged him. Fighting him was very different than fighting Adrian. For one thing he was shorter, and she had to readjust her fighting style, but he was also much more forceful than Adrian. When Adrian fought his style was to calculate each of his opponent's moves and then counter them. Rorschach's fighting style was much more…. Passionate. She advanced on him again, he blocked most of her punches but she had him on the retreat, she was back him up against a wall where she knew she'd have the advantage. Suddenly she aimed another round house kick at him and he grabbed her leg in mid air. She felt herself be lifted off the ground as she went spinning through the air and landed hard on her back on the padded floor. She jumped back to her feet and smirked.

"Impressive." She said.

"Didn't hurt you?" said Rorschach tentatively.

"Oh please… it takes a lot more than that to hurt me…" said Scarlet and she attacked him again.

They continued fighting for the next twenty minutes and both got the upper hand at different points. Scarlet couldn't help but notice that this was the most relaxed she had ever seen Rorschach be around her, usually he was very tense and reserved, but fighting seemed to be the place where he was truly comfortable. All of a sudden Rorschach took advantage of the fact that she was momentarily distracted he dodged her punch, grabbed both her wrists and slammed her against the padded wall pinning her there.

"I win." He said.

He was close, so close that Scarlet could feel his breathe on her face. She looked right into his face which was inches from hers and the energy she had felt on her balcony began to grow again, but it wasn't a bad kind. To her surprise he held her gaze, not letting go of her arms. It only lasted a few seconds but to her it felt like hours, then he quickly let her go and stepped away from her. He looked as thought he was ashamed, and she wanted desperately to tell him he didn't do anything wrong… but she didn't know how.

"Goodbye Scarlet." He said, and he walked over and grabbed the window ledge and easily threw himself up onto it and jumped out.

"Bye…" said Scarlet to the now empty window, then she sighed and turned back to the punching bags. She suddenly let out a growl of frustration and kicked one as hard as she could before heading to the dressing room to get changed. She didn't feel like practicing anymore.

00000

"So what's the plan?" said Scarlet. They were walking down a back alley towards the tall building where they knew the head of the trafficking ring was staying late.

Scarlet was slightly surprised that Rorschach had even shown up. After what had happened at the gym earlier that week she was worried he would stay away, but it seemed to have become his routine to visit her. He had done it almost six times over the past two weeks and she was becoming quite comfortable with him.

"Thought we'd go in from the roof." said Rorschach, "Seems like the safest route."

"And how do you plan on us getting up there?" said Scarlet looking at the roof almost thirty stories above them.

Rorschach pulled out his grapple gun and aimed it at the roof he shot it up and then turned to look at her.

"Come on." He said. She walked towards him tentatively feeling slightly nervous.

"Hold on." He said as she came level with him, and she hesitantly put her arms around his neck and locked them firmly.

He pressed a button and they went shooting into the air. Scarlet tightened her grip around his neck, while she was painfully aware of how tightly their bodies were pressed together, she also did not want to fall that far. They landed on the roof lightly and Scarlet stepped away from him. She looked at him for any signs of discomfort but he seemed fine.

"Entrance is over there." He said pointing to a door to their right. They walked to it slowly. They moved stealthily and silently down the stairs. Scarlet couldn't help noticing the way Rorschach moved, he was almost cat like the way he slunk. There were only three security guards in the main area that lead to Phoenix's offices. Rorschach snuck up behind the first one and in seconds he was on the floor with a broken neck. The man standing closest to him turned at Rorschach with his gun, but Scarlet was behind him in seconds and she slit his throat. The third looked momentarily confused, but he managed to get a shot off at Scarlet before Rorschach round house kicked him in the head bringing him down hard.

"We'll need to hurry, I'm sure Phoenix heard that." said Scarlet quickly.

"Only one way in and out…. Even if he's hiding, he's still in there." said Rorschach.

They made their way into the room. It was large and ornate, it was obvious Phoenix had made quite a living for himself in his elicit business. There were statues of ancient dragons, and also suits of Ancient Chinese armor all over the room. Rorschach and Scarlet looked at each other and nodded in understanding before carefully moving out in different directions to look for him.

Scarlet moved carefully behind the statues being sure to check all the shadows for any signs of movement. Suddenly she saw him, he ran from one dark corner to another but then he was gone again. He was toying with them, trying to get them confused and on edge. She purposefully slowed her heart rate, and forced herself to be calm and rational. She went back to looking for signs of movement. Suddenly the hair on the back of her neck stood up and she quickly turned around just in time to dodge a massive blow headed for the base of her neck. Phoenix was a very big man, probably over six foot tall and two hundred plus pounds. When she dodged him the momentum of his punch sent him flying in one of the dragon statues, but he turned on her quickly. The area was too small, and he was like a bulldozer, he let out a howl of fury as he attacked her again. He was fast and well trained she dodged most of his moves but he caught with a kick straight to the sternum and she was slammed into the floor momentarily losing her breath as white lights popped in front of her eyes. She tried desperately to stand all the while gasping for a breath of air. Phoenix was level with her, she felt him grab her by her coat and her hair and he was lifting her up to throw her when suddenly he dropped her again. With the suddenly jolt her lungs expanded again. She looked up and saw that Rorschach had attacked him from behind, Rorschach was smaller and much quicker than Phoenix and was easily getting the upper hand. Scarlet had gotten to her feet and was about to join the attack from behind when sudden Phoenix caught Rorschach in the stomach with a low punch and he was lifted into the air. He went flying backwards into a suit of armor and it clashed and banged as it toppled to the ground.

"No!" yelled Scarlet, because she was fairly sure that the she had seen him fall right on the long sharp spear the suit of armor was holding.

Filed with rage she ran at Phoenix and jumped on his back with all the force she had, he was caught off guard and her momentum toppled him forward. She slammed his head into the marble floor with all the strength she could muster and she felt him go limp. She hoped she hadn't killed him, she still needed information, but at this moment she wasn't entirely sure that she cared. As she rolled him over he gave a mumbled moan, she pushed him down and slammed her knee hard into his chest pinning him to the floor. He winced and groaned again, as she put her knife firmly against his throat.

"Now… you're gonna tell me where you keep those children." said Scarlet viciously.

"Oh I am?" said Phoenix with a sneer.

Suddenly he let out a yell of pain. Scarlet was confused for a second because she hadn't done anything, but then she looked to her left and saw a foot that was slowly crushing the fingers of his left hand into the floor.

"Yes," said Rorschach, "You are."

Scarlet felt relief flood through her body, he was alright. But even as she was thinking this she noticed a steady stream of blood dripping out the right sleeve of his coat and down his fingertips to the floor. It took them another half an hour to finally get the information they wanted to out of Phoenix. When they had finished they looked down at the ruined mess of a man.

"Do you think we should finish him off?" said Scarlet, looking at the whimpering man.

"No." said Rorschach, "Leave him. If someone finds him, he's lucky. If not, too bad."

They walked out of the room and headed back for the roof.

Fifteen minutes later they had made it back to Scarlet's apartment and she walked in quickly and headed for the kitchen.

"Get in here." She said pointedly to Rorschach, "And keep your arm elevated I don't want you bleeding on my carpet."

She pulled a chair in from the dining room and put it in the middle of the kitchen floor and then turned all the lights on so that it was very bright.

"Sit." She said pointing to the chair, and he did hesitantly.

"Now take off your coat." said Scarlet.

"Scarlet, don't need…" he began but she cut him off.

"Look I've been patching myself up for years; I was keeping an eye on you all the way back here and I know how much blood you've lost, we need to get your arm cleaned up. I'm not going to let you die of blood loss because of your pride, now take off your coat!" she said forcefully.

He was looking at her, it almost seemed like he was trying to stare her down but she would not look away. She stood there with the same determined expression on her face, finally he acquiesced and began to gingerly take off his trench coat being careful of his right arm. Scarlet turned away from him and went to her cabinet, she pushed aside of pile of plates and pulled out a large brown box. She got a folding stand from next to the refrigerator and she set it up next to Rorschach and put then box on it. She then went and grabbed her desk lamp, and also another chair. She put the desk lamp on the tray as well and the chair next to it, and then she sat down to examine his arm. She rolled his sleeve back as gently as she could not wanting to put him in any more pain. He had a long deep gash in his bicep that was still oozing ample amounts of blood. She opened the box and pulled out a set of gloves, some swabs and some alcohol. Then she turned the desk light on and shined it on the wound.

"Really know what you're doing…" said Rorschach looking from the light to the box to her.

"Yeah I took a bunch of medical emergency training classes awhile back. You know… how to clean wounds and give stitches… stuff like that… Brace yourself ok? This is going to sting a bit…" she said as she swabbed the alcohol onto his wound. She felt him tense but he seemed to handle pain rather well, that didn't surprise her.

"You're going to need some stitches to stop the bleeding." said Scarlet and she pulled out a syringe and a bottle of anesthetic.

"No." said Rorschach, "No drugs, just do it."

Scarlet gave him a pronounced sigh and an exasperated look, she set the medicine down and leaned towards him as she spoke.

"I'm going to have to give you about thirty stitches to sew this thing up, and it's going to hurt like hell. This isn't going to knock you out or anything, it will just make your arm numb for an hour or so." She said giving him a meaningful look.

"No," he repeated, "Just do it."

"Fine." Snapped Scarlet in annoyance and she put the anesthetic back in the box and took out her needle and thread and began sterilizing them all the while muttering an annoyed stream of words such as stupid, stubborn, and hardheaded, under her breath.

"You ready?" she asked.

"Yes." He said.

So she began to stitch up his arm, she worked diligently to give him the least amount of pain as possible, but he seemed to be handling it as well as could be expected. Scarlet was slightly embarrassed at the fact that she couldn't help but notice how well defined the muscles in his arm were. She had never seen an inch of his skin before, because his costume covered him had to toe. He had freckles… they were all over his arm, and the hair on his lower arm was light red.

"He's a red head…" thought Scarlet to herself, she quickly brought her attention back to the task at hand. Rorschach breathing was beginning to get shorter and harder, and as much as he was convinced he could take the pain, with the amount of blood he had lost she didn't want him to go into shock, she needed to find a way to distract him.

"Hey…" she said, "Let's talk about something…. Got anymore prying questions you want to ask me?" she said with a sarcastic smile.

He sat there in silence for a minutes and then took a long slightly shuddering breath.

"Ok." He said, "Few days ago. Said that Veidt trained you both mentally and physically. What did that mean?"

Scarlet was relieved he had asked this question, her answer was strange enough that it just might distract him from the pain.

"I have…. A certain mental ability, that most humans don't." said Scarlet, she kept her eyes focused on his arm as she spoke, wanting to finish as soon as possible.

"What kind of ability?" said Rorschach.

"I can see the future…" said Scarlet.

"What?" said Rorschach, sounding disbelieving, "Like Manhattan?"

"No… not like that…" said Scarlet, "I don't' see my entire future, I see glimpses. Sometimes I can control what the glimpses are, sometime I can't, and they are always subjective, they changed based on the choices that are made by others."

"Remarkable…" said Rorschach, and then he sat there in silence for a few moments, but Scarlet could tell that he was thinking about something.

"Did you see me?" he said.

"yeah I did…" said Scarlet, as she tied off the last stitch, "All done." She said.

She swabbed his arm with alcohol again and then began to wrap it carefully in a bandage.

"I'm wrapping your arm in such a way that you can still use it and not have to worry about tearing your stitches. But I'd say favor your left arm for the next week or so and be cautious ok? This wound is in your muscle, so if your don't let it heal right your arm could permanently weaker." She said looking at him sternly.

"Alright." He said as he rolled his sleeve back down over the bandage.

She handed him a bunch of extra bandages.

"Change that bandage at lease twice a day, and come back for more when you run out. If you don't keep it clean it will get infected and become much more serious. I don't want you to lose your arm." She said.

"Thank you Scarlet." said Rorschach, and he sounded deeply sincere.

"Anytime," said Scarlet as she followed him out onto the balcony.

"Take care of yourself ok?" she said, and before she even knew what she was doing she reached out her hand and gave his forearm an encouraging squeeze. To her surprise he didn't pull away.

"Ok." He said, and she took her hand off his arm as he leapt off the balcony.

She leaned over to watch him leave, and from thirteen stories down he looked back up at her briefly, before walking away. Scarlet walked back into the house smiling and began to clean up her kitchen. She wasn't sure what the future held anymore, but if nothing else it looked as if they had the beginnings of a very satisfying friendship.


	8. Chapter 8

8.

Rorschach walked up the old abandoned subway tunnel, as he entered the large open area that Daniel used as his lair he looked around. To his surprise it was not Daniel but Laurie who was standing on the far side of the room tinkering with a gadget.

"Hello Miss. Juspeczyk." He said, and she jumped violently.

"Rorschach!!" she said irritably as she turned around, "Jesus! don't' sneak up on a person like that!"

"Apologies." He said, "Is Daniel here?"

"Yeah…. He's upstairs…" said Laurie, "Hang on." She walked back upstairs without giving him a second glance… this didn't faze him; they had never gotten along well.

"Hey Rorschach…." said Daniel, as he came down the stairs a few moments later, "I was wondering what happened to you… I haven't heard from you in over two months, thought maybe you dropped off the map again."

"been busy." said Rorschach.

"Oh yeah…" said Dan, "Doing what?"

"Busted up child trafficking ring in Chinatown, tracked down convicted pedophile, working on breaking up the new Irish gang that sprung up a few months ago." said Rorschach.

"Wow… you have been busy." said Daniel, "You did all that by yourself?" He gave Rorschach a slight knowing look.

"No…" said Rorschach, "Have new partner."

"I see…" said Daniel, "Scarlet I'm guessing."

"Yes Scarlet." said Rorschach, "She's… very intriguing person."

"Huh…" said Daniel contemplatively, "Never thought I'd see the day."

"What?" said Rorschach.

"The day that you teamed up with a woman, you don't like women." said Daniel as he absentmindedly began to tinker with the gadgets on his table.

Rorschach had taken a seat on the step but at these words he stood up quickly and walked towards Daniel in a slightly hostile fashion.

"Don't call her that." said Rorschach angrily.

"What?" said Daniel seeming extremely confused.

"Woman." said Rorschach curtly.

"Isn't she one?" said Daniel slowly, still looking confused.

"Technically. But not like other women. Respectful, hardworking, decent, modest…. very kind. Deserves a better title than the rest of them." said Rorschach, once again taking his seat.

"Thanks… I'll be sure to tell Laurie you said that…" said Daniel dryly.

"Sorry Daniel…" said Rorschach rubbing his face in his hands, "not meaning to offend."

"It's ok man… I get it…" said Daniel, he stopped what he was working on a walked over to face Rorschach, he hesitated slightly before finally speaking but his words were very careful.

"So Rorschach…. Do you….. _like_ her?" he said.

"Has become a good friend." said Rorschach.

"That's not exactly what I meant…" said Daniel.

"Know what you meant." said Rorschach, "and you know me. That should be an answer enough."

Daniel shrugged his shoulders and nodded his head in somewhat of a resigned way.

"You know it wouldn't be the end of the world if you _did_ like her…." He said.

"Not who I am Daniel. Honestly don't know if I'm even capable." said Rorschach looking at his hands. "Not in a hurry to try." He stood and looked around.

"Need to go. Just came to check up on you. Heard you are going public." said Rorschach.

"Yeah… Tessa Park got her bill passed to give Watchmen the powers of the law, and she put out the word that she'd like a few Watchmen to publically endorse it, so Laurie and I contacted her. We're meeting with her in a few weeks." said Daniel.

"Hurm…" said Rorschach, "Well good luck Daniel."

"Yeah… you too Rorschach. Be careful out there." said Daniel.

"Always." said Rorschach.

00000

"So I have a meeting with a couple named Sam and Sandra Hollis. They claim to be Watchmen." Said Scarlet, "Oh and Check, by the way." She said as she moved her knight into position to take Rorschach's king.

They were sitting on the living room floor with Scarlet's chess set on the coffee table between them.

"Sam Hollis said he is the Night Owl," she continued as Rorschach contemplated his next move, "but I thought you said your old partner Dan Dreiberg was the Night Owl?"

"Is." said Rorschach as he moved his king to a safe position. "Sam Hollis is the name he took when he went under cover after he broke me out of prison."

"Oh…" said Scarlet, feeling momentarily shocked by the information, but then she continued, "So what is he like?" she said as she moved her queen.

"Overoptimistic, somewhat naïve, but a very good man." said Rorschach he moved his queen, "Checkmate."

"Ughh! I swear some day I will beat you…." Said Scarlet in frustration, "You know I used to think I was good at chess until you came along."

"So Rorschach…." said Scarlet as she headed for the kitchen to make herself some tea, "why were you in prison?"

"As you know… police don't take kindly to our brand of justice. Someone framed me for murder, they didn't have a very hard time believing it." He said.

"Yeah I can imagine…" said Scarlet.

"So…." She said, as she came and sat back on the couch cross legged. "I think it's your turn."

"For what?" said Rorschach who was still sitting on the floor across the table from her.

"You've been coming here for the past two and a half months asking me everything there is to ask about me, I think it's time I get to ask a few questions." She said with a slightly satisfied smile.

"Alright, but first I want to hear what you already know…. I know you've been checking up on me." said Rorschach slightly smugly as he threw her own words from months previous back at her.

"I stole a glance at your file while I was working with them at the police station." she admitted.

"And?" he said.

Scarlet looked down into her tea and took a sip before she began.

"Born Walter Joseph Kovacs, March 21, 1940. Your mothers name was Sylvia Kovacs, and she was…." Scarlet trailed off looking at him apologetically.

"You can say it." said Rorschach softly, "well aware of what she was."

"I know…." said Scarlet, "You were put in the Charlton Home when you were ten because of an incident with some boys, the report said it was unprovoked, but I don't believe that…. What did they do?"

Rorschach sat in silence for a very long time. Scarlet was about to tell him that she was sorry to ask, and he didn't have to answer when he spoke.

"Called me names… insulted me because of my mother… said I had diseases. Hit me." He said.

"Ah…. See now that makes more sense." said Scarlet gently.

"Never told anyone that…" said Rorschach not looking at her.

"Well… then I'm very honored." said Scarlet.

"what else did you find out?" he asked.

"Your mother died when you were thirteen. When you were sixteen you went work with a clothing maker. You started being Rorschach a few years later. Then suddenly, you just dropped off the map, and no one knew where you went, that's when you really became who you are now… isn't it?" She said delicately.

"Yes." He said, he seemed like he was going to continue but then suddenly he seemed to remember something and he looked up at her, "In file. Was there picture?" he said slightly sharply.

"yes but I purposefully didn't look at it." Said Scarlet, she remembered this because it had taken a great deal of self control.

"Why?" said Rorschach.

Scarlet put the tea down and looked at him intently.

"Because I want the decision of whether I see your face or not to be yours." she said.

"You see my face everyday." He said, "What's underneath is the mask."

Scarlet simply nodded her head, she understood.

"So what happened? How did Walter become Rorschach?" she said.

Once again Rorschach sat there in silence for quite a long time, and then he took his hat off and rubbed his head. Scarlet could tell he was trying to decide how to continue. It was curious, even though she could not see a single facial expression, she had learned to read his body language and the patterns the ink made when he moved his face certain ways, so well that at times she forgot she could not actually see his expressions.

"I was young." He began, "Naïve, too soft. I was investigating a kidnapping case. Six year old girl, promised her family I would bring her back."

Now it was Scarlet's turn to look up at him with surprise. Was he about to say what she thought he was? Could it really have been her sister who made him change?

"I broke a man's arm to get a tip on where the girl was, but when I got there, there was no sign of Blaire." He continued.

"Then what happened…" said Scarlet.

"Found knives and bloody counter…." said Rorschach, "then I found Blaire…"

Scarlet closed her eyes, she felt her body beginning to tremble but she resisted it. She needed to hear the rest of what he was saying.

"Two German shepards in the back yard, fighting over a bone, a human bone." He said, looking out the window lost in his own memories.

Scarlet gagged, she was sure she was going to throw up but nothing came. Her hands began to shake so badly that she dropped the cup, she was trembling violently from head to toe and she could seem to take a breath. All she could think of was Blaire, the combination of her horror and the lack of oxygen was causing her to black out quickly. Suddenly firm hands gripped both of her shoulders.

"Breathe Scarlet." Said Rorschach, he was kneeling in front of her and holding her up, "need to breathe."

Her breath began to come in short hard gasps, and she knew if she couldn't get it under control she would hyperventilate. Tears were leaking out the corners of her eyes as well, she reached her hand up to brush them away but it was still shaking so badly she couldn't steady it enough. She felt Rorschach gently push her arm back down to her side he was still hold her by the shoulders. She managed to get her breathing steadied again and her trembling became only a quiver. Rorschach was still knelt in front of her and his mask was making patterns she had never seen before, which meant he was giving her an expression he never had. Concern… she thought.

"Are you all right?" he said.

"Yeah…. I'm ok… I'm sorry." She said.

"Don't' apologize, did nothing. I should apologize, was inconsiderate." He said.

"no…. I needed to know that… as horrible as it was… wondering was worse." said Scarlet slowly.

Rorschach got up and took a seat beside her on the couch. Even with the very purposefully eight or nine inches he kept between them, this was the closest he had ever sat to her while they talked.

"Sure you want to hear this?" he said.

"Yes." said Scarlet.

"It was dark when the killer came home." He said, "He came in the house swearing and threatening. I admit I toyed with him. Threw his dead dogs through the windows at him, wanted him to be afraid."

Rorschach looked up at Scarlet before he continued she looked back at him, determined to convince him that she was ready to hear the rest of the story.

"Caught him. Accused him. He admitted it, laughed, felt no remorse. Told me to arrest him." Said Rorschach, he looked up and Scarlet knew he was looking right into her eyes.

"I didn't." he said.

"what did you do…" said Scarlet barely above a whisper, her voice was shaking badly from a combination of anger and emotion.

"Handcuffed him to stove, and lit house on fire. Gave him a hack saw and informed him he didn't have enough time to saw through handcuffs." said Rorschach.

Scarlet pulled her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them. A strange mixture of horror and sadness was mingling with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction and gratitude. After long minute she looked back up at Rorschach who was still watching her.

"He never came out." said Rorschach, he turned his body so that he was facing Scarlet and leaned in slightly, she knew he had something extremely important to say, so she turned to face him as well and listened intently.

" That night as I watched the flames I realized. God didn't kill your sister Scarlet, fate didn't hack her to pieces, a man did. Human beings are savage by nature." He said softly.

"And the only way to live, is to fight that nature in ourselves…." said Scarlet.

"And in everyone around us." He finished, he looked down at his hands.

"Whatever was left of Walter died with Blaire…." He said softly.

Scarlet had never felt so drawn to another human being, it was as if the events of their lives had been slowly weaving them together in an intricate and beautiful pattern they had yet to fully understand. Suddenly in a completely impulsive moment she reached out her hand and placed it softly on the side of his face. He looked up at her touch, but surprisingly he didn't instinctively become tense and move away. The black ink in his mask pooled to the spot where her hand touched his face. She realized the material must be sensitive to heat. Rorschach slowly reached up and took her hand gently from his face and put it back in her lap. She knew it was not a rejection of her affection; he was simply setting up boundaries. She got up and took the now empty tea mug from the coffee table to the kitchen.

"Scarlet." said Rorschach, who had followed her.

"Yeah…" she said.

"How many men have you been with?" he asked.

Scarlet dropped the mug she was now washing into the sink with a loud thump.

"Excuse me?" she said turning on him.

"I said how many—" repeated Rorschach but Scarlet cut him off.

"I heard you." She said slightly frostily, "I just can't believe you asked me that."

"Going to answer question?" said Rorschach.

"No." said Scarlet.

"I see." said Rorschach, with the same annoying judgmental tone.

"I'm not answering you because my sex life is none of your business, it's none of anyone's business actually. I don't believe in discussing things like that the same way you discuss the weather, it cheapens them, makes them seem tawdry and worthless." Said Scarlet, still feeling fuming angry.

"What _do_ you believe then?" said Rorschach.

"I believe that those kinds of activities should be looked at with respect, because it is the most vulnerable and open you can be with another human being. I personally see it as the greatest act of commitment and respect one person can give to another, it should signify that you want to share everything that you are with that person. Your whole life. Maybe I'm being too pious and optimistic, but that's what I believe. And the only man _I've_ ever felt that for was Timothy." She walked to the sliding glass doors and looked out at the city. It was raining again, the drops hit her window and ran down it slowly.

"I don't take relationships lightly." Said Scarlet turning to look at him, she walked over to where he stood, "I take my time and make sure I know what I'm doing. Because when I choose to give myself to someone, its permanent." She gave him the most significant look she could muster and prayed he would understand.

They were facing each other again but this time the feeling was not one of tension, it was as if they had both become magnetically charged and some invisible force was pulling them to each other. Scarlet's heart seemed to skip a beat as Rorschach reached his hand up and placed it against her cheek. He let his finger tips brush from her cheek down her jaw line to her chin and then back. Without thinking Scarlet closed her eyes and leaned her head into his touch, it was perfect, as his fingers gentle caressed her skin feelings she had not experienced in many years began to well up inside her. She could hear his breath becoming slightly uneven. He ran his hand down the curve of her neck to her collar bone and then back to her cheek where she pressed her face firmly into his hand and sighed. Her conscience was poking at her in the back of her brain, she forced herself to open her eyes.

"It's late…" she managed to whisper, she gently pulled his hand away from her cheek, "You should probably get going." She made sure to give him a gentle look as he knew she was not rejecting him.

"Right…." He breathed… she wasn't quite sure if she imagined it, but his voice sounded slightly raspier than usual in that moment.

He walked out onto the balcony and hooked his grapple to the edge.

"Be careful out there." She said.

"Always." He replied, before jumping over the rail.

000000

Scarlet sat at her desk the next day and sighed in frustration as she erased what she was writing for the third time. She looked out her window, she had always loved that her office looked out at one of the few trees that there was around the courthouse. Right now the tree had deep red autumn leaves covering it, and she watched as the wind blew one softly to the ground. She had never truly appreciated how beautiful fall was. Then again, she smirked to herself, everything seemed to be a bit more beautiful today. She began to fill out the paper work again but her mind was far from her little office. She felt the color begin to rise in her face as she thought about the encounter she and Rorschach had the night before. She wasn't exactly sure what it had meant, but she did know that it answered one very nagging question that had been in the back of her brain. What did he think of her? Over the past few months she had been slightly confused as to whether they falling into the same kind of relationship she had, had with Adrian, or whether there was something more. Yet the night before had cleared that up for her rather quickly. She distractedly brushed the spot on her cheek where his hand had been. There was definitely something more. She smiled in spite of herself. Just then I loud sharp knock on the door made her jump and come back to reality.

"Come in…" she said.

Two people she had never met walked tentatively into her office. The man was tall and slightly overweight; he looked to be about fifty but seemed to have aged very well. The small streaks of grey near his temples made him look distinguished. The woman with him was what most men would call a tall blond bombshell, or at least she was at her prime. She now looked to be in her mid forties but she had the air of someone who was used to being treated as beautiful and important. Both of them looked at her with kind but expectant smiles.

"May I help you?" she said.

"I'm Sam Hollis…. This is my wife Sandra." said the man, "I believe you were expecting us?"

"Oh yes!" said Scarlet, mentally kicking herself for forgetting the meeting, "I'm so sorry I've had a very busy week it's very nice to meet you." she walked quickly around her desk to shake their hands.

"Please have a seat." She said before taking her place back on her side of the desk, and continuing.

"So first things first I'm going to have to know a little about you, like you're identities, and your alter ego's" said Scarlet.

"Now Mr. Hollis, you say you're the Night Owl, I'm assuming that Sam Hollis is an alias?" she said.

"Why would assume a thing like that" he said curiously.

"Well…. To tell you the truth Mr. Dreiberg, I'm not assuming I know. I was just trying to be tactful." said Scarlet.

Daniel sat there in stunned silence for a few seconds looking at her.

"You have some very good contacts Ms. Park." He said with a tone of admiration.

"It's my job to have good contacts." said Scarlet matter-of-factly. "It's of course your choice whether you want to come out and admit that you are Daniel Dreiberg a.k.a. Night Owl II, or keep the name Sam Hollis and become Night Owl III."

"ok… I'll have to think about that and get back to you… is that alright?" he said.

"that's perfectly fine." said Scarlet with a smile. "and I'm sorry, but I don't really know anything about you." Said Scarlet to the woman.

"Don't' worry about it…" said the woman with a polite smile, "My name is Sandra and my alias is Midnight Phantom."

"Midnight Phantom huh? And when did you come on the scene? You must have teamed up with Daniel here sometime around '86, is that when you first became active?" asked Scarlet.

"How could you possible know that?" said the woman with awe and a slight tone of suspicion.

"It doesn't take a genius to figure it out. That's when the Night Owl began his work again with a new partner because his old one had gotten killed. It's a matter of common knowledge." Scarlet pointed out.

"Oh…right." Said the woman, and then she continued, "I was actually active before that, my name was Laurie Juspeczyk, and I was called the Silk Spectre II."

"Ah… yes that's a name I've heard." Said Scarlet, she tried very hard to keep her opinion from showing in her voice, but she thought she saw Miss Juspeczyk give her a slightly offended look.

"So here's the plan." Said Scarlet, "In a week or so we are going to make a formal statement in which you two will endorse this law publically, and tell the media whatever you want to about yourselves, I know that you both understand the risks involved with this move, which is why I wanted to have you in to thank you personally for your willingness to do this." said Scarlet.

"It's our pleasure, we'll do anything to help our fellow Watchmen." said Daniel.

"Out of curiosity…" said Laurie, "how in the world did you get this law to go through, especially with the way certain Watchmen go about things."

"I'm sure you can just say how did you get the police to give Rorschach the power of the law Sandra." Said Daniel with a smirk, "I'm sure it's an issue that Ms. Park had been dealing with quite a bit."

"That I have…" said Scarlet with a slight laugh, the minute he had said Rorschach's name butterflies erupted in her stomach, and she was slightly embarrassed by this childish reaction.

"I added some clauses about what would not be acceptable, and talked with the police a lot about what this law meant, in the end they were ok with it." Said Scarlet.

"that's surprising to me…" said Laurie, "but I guess it's a good thing in the end." She stood to leave and Daniel followed her.

"See you soon." Said Scarlet politely and they left.


	9. Chapter 9

9.

Rorschach sat in his usual spot, and he watched. There was something soothing about New York, all of the human vermin running back and forth, so completely caught up in the meaningless frenzy of their everyday lives, never stopping, never seeing. Except Scarlet, she stopped, she saw. Rorschach glared out at the city. He was still in complete and utter shock at what had happened the night before. He had touched her, and what was infinitely more embarrassing than that, was that in that moment, he had wanted her. Never, he thought to himself, part of him felt dirty, stained, no better than the rest of the hormone driven, sex crazed men living in New York, but there was also a part of him that wanted to touch Scarlet again, because as much as he hated himself for it now, in that moment he had felt no remorse, it seemed to be exactly the thing he was supposed to do. Rorschach began absentmindedly pulling at the loose strings in the thumb of his glove watching them unwind making the hole even bigger. He felt a sense of irony. He let his eyes fall on the newspaper stand by the edge of the road and suddenly something caught his eye. He jumped up from his spot and walked briskly down the courthouse steps. He walked up to the newspaper vendor.

"One copy of the New York Times." He said.

"You got money??" said the man looking at Rorschach's clothing warily.

Rorschach handed him three dollars and the man handed him a copy of the paper. Rorschach walked down the street into an alleyway that ran next to the courthouse and he looked at the paper. What had caught his attention was the headline, which read; _Veidt Industries Re- Open Research Project On Tachyon Energy._ Rorschach began to read the article, and he felt anger and unease rising inside himself. He looked up at the sky, it was only about three o'clock, he would have a few more hours to wait.

Around seven thirty that evening Rorschach was sitting in Daniel and Laurie's living room waiting. They came through the door laughing and talking, it looked as if they had gone out to dinner. Laurie turned to the living room and jumped with surprise and fright.

"Holy!.... can you ever just show up like a normal person?" she snapped.

"Apologies…. Next time, I'll wait on doorstep. Sure that will attract exactly the kind of attention you want from neighbors." shot Rorschach back at her.

"enough both of you…." said Daniel, hanging up his coat and walking into the living room, "what's up Rorschach."

Rorschach slapped the newspaper down on the coffee table.

"Seen this?" he said.

"Yeah…." said Daniel, "I'm not sure what to make of it either."

"It's Veidt." Said Rorschach, "The company does not have enough knowledge even with all their brains combined to work on a project like this without him."

"I would agree with that…" said Daniel.

"But why now?" said Laurie sitting down in the armchair farthest from Rorschach, "he dropped off the face of the earth when we left him in Karnack, not a single living soul has seen him in eight and a half years."

"Not exactly true." said Rorschach, "Know someone who saw him, lived with him, but last time they saw him was three years ago. So you're question remains, why now?"

"Who do you know that lived in Karnack with Adrian for five years?" said Laurie.

"My partner… trained by him." said Rorschach.

"Well that's an interesting little turn of events…" said Daniel, "Do you think she can help us figure out what's going on?"

"Doubtful…. Veidt never told her about what he did. She left him when he finally did." explained Rorschach.

"So what do you think Adrian is up to…" said Daniel.

"Unsure… but considering what he used energy for in the past, think it's cause for concern." said Rorschach.

"But that's ridiculous, the only reason he did that before was to stop a nuclear war, there's not reason to use the Tachyons for destructive purposes now, maybe he's trying to redeem himself by doing what he always said he would do with them, trying to find an unlimited source of energy for the world." Said Laurie.

"Maybe…." said Rorschach, "But considering track record, think would be foolish to not at least check up on him."

"I agree with Rorschach…" said Daniel, giving Laurie an apologetic look, "So you know what that means right Rorschach?"

"Yes," he said, "We're going to Karnack."

"When do you want to leave?" said Laurie sounding resigned.

"As soon as possible." said Rorschach, "Tonight."

"Ok…" said Daniel, "I'm going to go get Archie ready for a journey of that length, we'll leave around mid-night."

"Right… be back then." said Rorschach, "Need to go talk to Scarlet." With that he headed for the door, but as he was leaving he heard the last bits of their conversation.

"Scarlet?" Laurie said quietly, "as in Scarlet Carson?"

"Yeah they're partner's now." said Daniel.

"You're joking!" said Laurie, "I never would have guessed that…"

Rorschach shook his head, he shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and walked down the road.

00000

Scarlet was lying in bed. She knew it was far too early to go to sleep but she was restless. She couldn't go out tonight because she had to be up at six thirty the next morning for a public appearance with the mayor, as much as it drove her crazy when her public life interfered with her private one, she also took her job seriously and would give it nothing but her best. She rolled over and looked at her bedside clock, nine oh five, she sighed and flopped back on her pillow. She turned on her television but there was nothing she wanted to watch. She turned it off again and rolled over onto her side, she watched the light of the city flicker through her window. She was also restless because Rorschach had not shown up that evening, and as silly as she knew she was being she was now nervous that the events of the night before had somehow made him decide he didn't want to be her partner anymore.

"_that just dumb,"_ said the little voice in her head, "_he started that of his own free will, you didn't do anything._"

"Yes but what if he regrets it, what if it was a momentary lapse of judgment?" she sighed and looked out the window again.

"Look at me… I'm talking to myself out loud, that's got to be one of the first signs that you're going off the deep end." she said, staring out the window.

"Probably." said a gruff voice from behind her.

She sat up and looked in the direction of the voice, she saw Rorschach standing in her doorway.

"I thought you weren't coming." she said before she could stop herself.

"I'm sorry…." He said, not moving, "there's been a complication."

At first Scarlet's heart fell, he _did_ regret what had happened the night before. But then she realized if he had, he wouldn't be here…. So she made herself think more logically and suddenly it all clicked into place as the morning's newspaper headline flashed in her mind.

"It's about Adrian isn't it?" she said.

"Yes." said Rorschach, still not moving. It was obvious that he was very uncomfortable with going into her bedroom, so she pulled back the covers and hopped out of bed as she did he turned and headed back for the living room and she followed him.

They sat on the couch in silence for a few moments. Scarlet studied his movements, he seemed slightly more reserved than usual but not tense of uncomfortable, she guessed he was slightly nervous.

"Daniel, Laurie, and I are going to Karnack, we are going to check up on Adrian and make sure he's not trying to murder mass amounts of people again." said Rorschach.

"I'm going with you." said Scarlet immediately.

"No." said Rorschach curtly.

"What?? Why not?" said Scarlet.

"Not a good idea." said Rorschach.

"Why?" said Scarlet feeling her voice rising, "Because you don't think I can take care of myself, or you're worried I'll decided to stay with Adrian!" she spat these last words at him feeling hurt and angry, she pulled her knees to her chest and refused to look at him, she knew she was pouting, but at that moment she didn't care.

Scarlet felt his hand against her face. He slipped three fingers under her chin and forced her to look at him.

"need to leave someone behind that I trust to keep things under control." He said, and he rubbed her cheek with his thumb before pulling his hand back.

Scarlet smiled in spite of herself. She brushed away the few angry tears that had escaped.

"How long will you be gone?" she said.

"A week if nothing goes wrong." said Rorschach.

"Yeah if nothing goes wrong…" said Scarlet, she stood up and walked out on her balcony, the air was rather warm for October and there was a full moon. She looked out over the city lost in her own thoughts, she knew she was going to be worried sick from the moment he left that night, until the moment she saw him again. He walked out on the balcony and stood beside her. Scarlet took a deep shuddering breathe.

"You promise me you won't do anything stupid Rorschach." She said.

"Won't be stupid. Just do what is necessary." He said, and then he turned to her and put his hand on her cheek again, this time she didn't close her eyes. For the first time since she'd met him she was keenly aware of how she wished there was not a mask separating his face from hers, and she blushed slightly at the thought.

"Be back later." He said, and he jumped over the rail with his grapple gun. As he walked down the street and Scarlet watched him go, and two realizations suddenly plowed into her like a ton of bricks. The first was that she had just experienced her vision months before, which meant things had come full circle and now the future was a complete mystery to her. The second was that she had been right about her vision, she had fallen unreservedly and irreversibly in love.

00000

The ride to Karnack was long, far too long as far as Rorschach was concerned. He had too much time to think, and of course his thoughts always went back to Scarlet. He made himself evaluate their relationship, because he finally accepted that there was no way around it. He realized there was only ever one other human being he'd ever felt the amount of respect and admiration for, that he did for Scarlet. That was the Comedian, he was former Watchmen, who Rorschach had always admired for his ability to see how broken and depraved society was, for years he felt that the Comedian was the only person who truly understood. But Scarlet understood, she understood even more than the Comedian and what was more than that…. She was beautiful. Not in the way that women think they are to be beautiful, but in a more unique way. Scarlet was beautiful to him in the same way that material in his face was beautiful. He remembered the first time he saw the material, the black and white flowing together freely never mixing, never contaminating each other, he had felt something stir inside him, something drew him to the material, that was the same feeling he had towards Scarlet, she was different, unique, very beautiful. He sighed and put his head in his hands.

"You doin alright back there Rorschach?" said Daniel from his position in the drivers seat.

"Fine." said Rorschach. He stood walked to where Daniel was so he could see out the front window.

"How much longer Daniel?" he said.

"Not much…" said Daniel.

As if on cue a large shape began to rise on the horizon, and soon they could see the outline of the huge structure built into the face of the icy continent.

"Push that button by your left hand Laurie." said Daniel, then he looked back at Rorschach.

"I added an extra heating system to Archie's engines so we wouldn't have the same issue we did last time." He said.

"Good thinking." said Rorschach.

They landed about five hundred feet from the entrance of Karnack, the sun was bright but there was a bitter wind blowing. Dan and Laurie suited up into thermal cloaks and Laurie pulled a third cloak out of the closet and started to turn to Rorschach.

"Don't' bother Laur…." Said Dan quietly, "You won't get him to wear it."

They all exited Archie and headed for the entrance to Karnack, they made it inside without any trouble. They headed for the main room where they had last seen Adrian. The room had been repaired, and seemed exactly the way it was the last time they had been here, with one exception. It was empty, the huge wall of TV monitors that Adrian usually sat at was silent, and there was not a sound. They looked at each other and made the signal to spread out. They searched the entire facility, and after about a half an hour they met back up in the main room.

"What do you think?" said Daniel looking at the other two in confusion.

"Not here." said Rorschach, "everything is gone. Looks like he left some time ago."

"So where is he?" said Daniel.

"Good question." Said Rorschach, "maybe televisions will give us some clue."

He walked over and turned on the televisions; to their surprise the same thing seemed to be on many of the stations.

00000

Scarlet was standing to the side clapping politely as the mayor and the police chief shook hands in a public announcement of the watchmen collaboration. In a week or two she would bring out the info on Dan and Laurie and her project would be complete. The mayor walked back towards her and smiled.

"Things are going very well here Tessa. I know I've said it many times before, but I am truly impressed with everything that you've been doing." He said.

"Thank you sir." She said with a smile.

"Won't you join us all in some lunch at the Rosedale Country Club, you look like you could use a break." He said.

'I'd love to sir... but I have a meeting in a half an hour and I really should get back to the courthouse." she said politely.

"Alright…. If you must." said the mayor, "Keep up the good work Tessa."

"I will sir." She said with a smile, and then she walked briskly towards the road and stuck her arm out for a taxi. One that had bee sitting a little ways down the road pulled into traffic and then stopped along the side of the road for her.

"The courthouse…" she said when she got in.

"you got it." said the cabby and he pulled into traffic.

Suddenly Scarlet realized something.

"Umm… the courthouse is the other direction." She said to the man in confusion, he didn't answer her.

"excuse me!" she said, "You're going the wrong way." When he didn't answer her again she began to grow wary, she didn't have any of her knives of her, if this was a kidnapping, they had picked the perfect moment.

"Let me out of this car now." She said in her most deadly voice.

"I've got a better idea Ms. Park, how bout you shut the hell up." said the man speaking for the first time, and before Scarlet could even react the butt end of a gun was flying towards her face.

When Scarlet regained consciousness the first thing she realized was that her hands were tied firmly behind her back, and she was sitting a straight back chair. She opened her eyes and there was a bright light shining on her. Her left cheek throbbed and she had a sneaking suspicion she had a gash from the gun there, it felt sticky. A man stood before her.

"Hello there Ms. Park, how are you today?" he said.

"Who are you and what do you want?" she said dryly. The man smacked her hard across the face.

"You will only speak to answer my questions, or to say what I tell you to say." He said glaring at her, she glared back furiously but she did not speak again.

"You are here, because my employer wants to make a public example of what happens to the people who decide to help the watchmen." He said.

"So you're going to kill me?" she said.

"You're a slow learner aren't you bitch?" said the man and he hit her hard across the face again, "no questions."

Scarlet licked her lip and felt the sting of the cut and the blood oozing from it.

"We're not going to kill you yet. First we have to make people understand." The man walked over to a digital camera and picked it up, he pointed it at himself, and turned it on.

"Hello New York. It's time you listened up," he began, "everyone is hailing Tessa Park as the champion of the Watchmen, well maybe it's time you realized, the Watchmen don't deserve a Champion, look…." He turned the camera on Tessa, "she has been here for six hours, and not a single watchmen has come, this is what happens the people who help the watchmen." He pushed her chair over so she fell hard on the floor still tied down. He kicked her hard and she felt her ribs crunch. She tried her best to not cry out.

"Where are the watchmen? Why haven't they come to save their Champion? The watchmen have three days…. then Tessa Park becomes the first casualty of believing in watchmen." He turned off the camera and look back at Scarlet who was lying on the floor. She was gasping for air, each breath felt painful.

"Do you…." She gasped, "have any idea what you just did…. They're going to kill you…"

"I though I told you," said the man grabbed her by her hair and wrenching her into a sitting position again, "Shut up."

He walked towards the door of the room but before he left her turned back to her.

"and honey…." He said, "Let them come… it's exactly what I want."

00000

Most of the televisions in Karnack were filled up with the same story.

"_This video just came in to our studios, the police are already mounting a full scale search in this matter. Be advised, some of these images are gravely disturbing." _The news anchor was saying.

The video came on, it was a tall scraggly looking man who was obviously taping himself.

"_Hello New York. It's time you listened up_," he began, "_everyone is hailing Tessa Park as the champion of the Watchmen, well maybe it's time you realized, the Watchmen don't deserve a Champion, look…_."

He had her there tied up and bleeding. Rorschach watched in horror as the man went over and threw the chair she was in to the ground, he began to kick her in the stomach and chest and she cried out.

"No!" Rorschach growled, "No! No!No!'

The man went on to ridicule the watchmen for not coming for her, he said they had three days before she would be killed. Rorschach took off running for Archie, and Laurie and Daniel where right behind. Daniel jumped into the drivers seat and began to go through his check list before take off. Rorschach paced violently back and forth and then turned to Daniel in impatience and panic.

"Have to go Daniel! Have to go!" he shouted.

" I know! We are…" said Daniel, "Just calm down, why are you so freaked out? I know it's horrible but you don't even—"

"It's Scarlet." Rorschach cut him off, "Tessa is Scarlet."

Daniels face changed instantly and he revved the engines.

"We're going." He said, and they flew away.

00000

Scarlet rolled over onto her side and coughed out a mouth full of blood before looking back up at the men standing over her. Three more had joined her original kidnapper since he brought her here. At first she had been worried they might try to abuse her sexually, but they didn't seem to have any interest, which relieved her. It seemed that their job was to keep her alive and every few hours or so send another broad cast to New York City of them beating her, and calling for the watchmen to save her. It had been two days, and no one had come, she knew why and she was grateful. She didn't want him coming here, she didn't want Rorschach putting his life in danger to save hers, he was worth so much. Just then one of the men came over and grabbed her by the base of her neck and pulled her to her feet. Her muscles and joints ached as she stood, she knew she must covered in bruises by now. One of the men had the video camera out again.

"Here's your update ladies and gents… we got our live feed set up, and we're hacking straight into the networks" he was saying, " It's been two days, and still no watchmen. Only fourteen more hours and then Ms. Park here will shuffle off this mortal coil. One has to wonder? Why haven't they come? Are they afraid? Or is the cold hard truth that even though she has dedicated her life to the watchmen, they don't give a damn about her. Those are your hero's New York, either cowards, or cold hearted bastards… which do you think is better? Now please hold for a few words from Miss Park herself."

The man came over and grabbed Scarlet by the hair.

"Alight it's your turn sweetie…. Turn those pretty blue eyes to the camera and beg… beg them to save you." He said.

Scarlet looked directly into the camera lens, she had no clue if Rorschach was watching or where in the world he would be, but she knew what she had to say, and she knew she would pay dearly for it in a few seconds."

"whatever you don't come!!" she gasped as quickly and urgently as possible.

"You little bitch!" yelled the man, he had turned the camera off as quick as possible but she'd hoped her message got through. The man slammed his fist into her face yet again and she saw lights pop before her eyes.

"I hope you know how much you're going to pay for that little stunt…" he said.

00000

Rorschach sat glued to the small satellite TV that Dan had in Archie, they had been broadcasting intermittently all day long. About an hour ago the kidnappers had set up a live feed and kept hacking into the networks with updates, and mocking the watchmen. It was torture for Rorschach to be sitting here, he needed to find her. To hurt them in ways they had never been hurt. Suddenly the feed came on again and Rorschach perked up, listening intently the head kidnapper began to rail on how it had been two days and no watchmen had come for her. Then he said he was going to let her speak. Rorschach grabbed the sides of the TV, as the man walked to where Scarlet was standing being held by two other men. The man grabbed her by the hair shoved the camera in her face. Rorschach felt himself begin to tremble with rage as the man told her to beg for her life. Scarlet looked directly into the camera, without even thinking Rorschach put this hand on the screen willing her to know that he was coming. Her eyes were hard and determined.

"Whatever you do don't come…" she said, and the camera was turned off quickly, but not before Rorschach got a glimpse of her being bashed in the face. He stood up and punched the wall as hard as he possibly could and then started pacing again.

"So….. what are we going to do now…" said Laurie tentatively a few moments later.

"We're going to rescue her!" said Rorschach angrily.

"But she just said…" Laurie continued.

"I don't care! Not leaving her to die!" said Rorschach furiously.

"We're more than a match for those men Laurie, and you know it." said Daniel, "Scarlet said that because she doesn't want to see Rorschach get hurt…. But I'd wager she's being a bit overprotective. Besides… there's no way we're going to stop him from going after her, so the best plan is to help him, so things don't go terribly wrong."

"good point…." Said Laurie, but she had a strange almost quizzical look in her eye, she looked from Rorschach to Dan and back, "I'm going to go in the back and get some sleep, it looks like we'll be in New York in about six hours." with that she stood and made her way to the cots that were along the wall in the back of Archie.

Rorschach slumped down into her vacant seat and looked out the window, he took his hat off and rubbed his head, he felt so restless he need to be back now.

"We're gonna get there in time Rorschach… nothing is going to happen to her." Said Daniel.

"Things are happening to her right now!" said Rorschach, "My fault… I shouldn't have left her alone…"

"She was alone before you came back and she did just fine…" said Dan, "Besides she was taken during the day, you wouldn't have been with her anyway, so don't blame yourself. It was just bad timing."

"I know…." Said Rorschach, "Just…. Need to get to her, must make her safe."

"Look Rorschach…." Said Dan very tentatively, "I know this may not be the best moment to bring this up, but I kinda feel like it's time we discussed it…"

"What?" said Rorschach.

"I've known you for along time Rorschach… and one of the things I've learned about you is that as much as you say you do… you don't want to be alone. You have just never been able to connect with another human being." said Dan.

"go on." said Rorschach.

"that's different with her isn't it?" said Dan.

Rorschach sat staring out the window for a very long time.

"Yes." He said finally.

"She understands you doesn't she?" said Dan.

"Yes." said Rorschach. "Do you remember case I worked on, Blaire Roche?"

"Of course I do…" said Daniel, "You were never the same after that… why do you ask?"

Rorschach went on to tell him everything, all about Scarlet's past and how it tied to his, her ideals and what they both stood for, when he had finished he looked up at Dan.

"You're in love with her." said Daniel in revelatory way.

"Am I?" said Rorschach quietly, "I've never felt that…. Love…. Never received it… never given it…"

"So why not give it now?" said Dan kindly, "I mean if you two are as connected as you say that you are, then why not let yourself open up to her. You don't have to be alone Rorschach."

"Don't know how…" said Rorschach.

"Well for starters… once we get her back, you should probably tell her how you feel." said Dan.

"Probably…" echoed Rorschach, and he went back to looking out the window.


	10. Chapter 10

10.

Scarlet was lying on the cold floor. She pressed her sore face against it for relief, only a few more hours now. She tried not to think about how they were planning on killing her. Suddenly the room began to vibrate, she closed her eyes and willed the vision to come, it was a quick one, only a flash. She wondered if it would have been longer if she had more strength. Either way it was long enough, all she had seen was a glimpse of Rorschach breaking the neck of the man sitting closest to her. She lay back and smiled a tired smile.

"Hey your name is Larry right?" she said looking at the man.

"Yeah…" he said gruffly, "Why do you care?"

"You got a family Larry?" said Scarlet, ignoring his question.

"Got a wife and a baby girl…" said Larry.

"You want my advice? Leave now," said Scarlet, "you don't want to leave them without a husband and a father."

"I don't think you're in any position to be making threats lady…" said Larry hostilely.

"It's not a threat Larry… it's a prediction." Said Scarlet, she smirked at him, she was almost having fun, "See I'm what they call pre-cognizant. I can see the future, and in about…. Oh I'm guessing less than an hour. My partner is going to kill you.."

"Uh huh… I'm sure…" said Larry, but he was looking at her slightly warily, he walked across the room and Scarlet heard him whisper under his breath, "She's cracking up…"

She simply laid head back on the concrete floor and chuckled to herself.

00000

Archie was flying low and the New York skyline was finally in sight.

"Rorschach you've been watching the TV, any clues where they might have her?" said Laurie.

"Old warehouse on east twenty fifth." He answered immediately. "Wanted a location watchmen would know but not police. There was an illegal smuggling ring that ran through there in the early 80's, it was the watchmen who uncovered it."

"Yeah I remember that…" said Laurie, "so what's the plan?"

"We're going to have to be extra stealthy because they are waiting for us. I have some diversionary tactics in the back," said Dan, he carefully put Archie down on the roof of a building just a few rooftops away. He turned to look at Rorschach.

"Rorschach if we're going to do this you have to promise me that you aren't going to just go running in their like hell fire breaking limbs and killing people. I know how angry you are, but that's the quickest way to get us all killed, including Scarlet." said Dan pointedly.

"Understand Daniel, caution is vital." said Rorschach.

"Alright then, let's move out." said Dan.

00000

"Only about six more hours now Ms. Park, I'm just curious… what are you thinking about in these last few hours of your sad little life?" the man was kneeling in front of her and leering at her.

Scarlet didn't answer him, she simply glared at him with all of the hatred she could muster. He was about to say something else when another one of the men ran into the room.

"Frank just saw something on the roof. He only got a glimpse of it, but he thinks it's them." Said the man.

"Here we go…." said the first man with a sadistic smile, "bring the boys down here, it's time for a party." He walked over and picked up his shot gun, and cocked it.

A few minutes later all of the men assembled. Scarlet knew that they were no match for Rorschach, Dan, and Laurie in fighting skills but the room was small and there were ten of them armed with four semi-automatics, two shot guns, three high powered rifles, and one magnum. If they got caught it would be a blood bath. Suddenly a shadow flew past the window and two of the machine gun guys sprayed it with bullets shattering all the glass. Then another shadow from the window behind them, they jumped and did the same thing. Scarlet's ears were ringing from the sound.

"Keep it together boys!" yelled the leader, "even watchmen aren't bullet proof."

They all stood in a tight group and looked in all directions. Suddenly the room exploded into chaos. First of all two smoke bombs were thrown through the now open windows and the room immediately began to fill with a thick dark gray smoke.

"Stay together men!! Don't break apart!" yelled the leader, but suddenly there was a loud scream from one of the men and everyone started shooting in that direction. Shadows were flitting through the room and everyone started shooting. Scarlet covered her head and began to pray she wouldn't be caught in the cross fire. She stayed low to the floor trying to breath in as little smoke as possible. Suddenly out of no where the man who was the leader appeared and grabbed her.

"If they think it will be that easy they have another think coming!" he growled and he began to drag her towards the door, even with her diminished stated she punched at him trying to fight him off, in the chaos and smoke they would never know she had been taken away until it was too late. As he was dragging her out the door there was a sudden moment where the gunfire died down somewhat and she let out a desperate scream.

"_Rorschach I'm over here!" _she yelled as loudly as she could manage before the man slammed her hard in the mouth and drug her out the door. He locked the door behind him and began to drag her down the hallway. She kicked and struggled against him but it was no use, she was too weak.

BAM!!! Suddenly the door they had just come threw was smashed open and Rorschach stepped into the hall. The man turned suddenly and pointed his gun at Rorschach. Rorschach didn't even slow his stride he ran at the man with all his might, the man went to shoot but Scarlet used the last of her strength to aim a knee at his groin and in his distraction he didn't block he doubled over dropping her to the floor where she collapsed in pain. Rorschach grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into the wall, Scarlet could see the man's feet which were several inches off the floor twitching violently as Rorschach slowly crushed his windpipe. Everything was going dark, Scarlet struggled to hold on to consciousness. Two pairs of feet ran by her.

"Rorschach stop you're killing him!" she heard a woman yell but it sounded far away.

"Rorschach we need him! We need to know who sent him…" said a man's voice, she vaguely saw the man who had attacked her fall to the floor.

"Take Scarlet back to Archie…." said the first man's voice, it sounded like he was at the end of a long tunnel.

"Rorschach!" said the voice more forcefully, "take Scarlet back to Archie and make her comfortable, we'll deal with him."

Scarlet felt strong arms wrap around her and gently pick her up. She instinctively wrapped her arms around his neck and laid her head on his chest. She let the blackness over take her.

Scarlet was slipping in and out of consciousness. She heard Daniel and Laurie come back to Archie. She heard them say something about finding out the name of the man who had ordered her kidnapped, before she slipped away again. She came back and heard them discussing her. She felt a warm soft hand caressing her hair, and she realized with a jolt that Rorschach must have taken his gloves off.

"She looks bad… maybe we should take her to a hospital." Laurie was saying.

"No…" she managed to get out, and she felt Rorschach lean down to her instantly. "No hospital… just take me home…" she said.

"We will Scarlet." He said, she slipped her hand into his and held it tightly as she began to lose consciousness again.

Scarlet opened her eyes again as she was being carried down the hall towards her own apartment. She was feeling slightly better, she was still weak, but she was beginning to get her bearings again.

"I'll take her to her room…" said Rorschach, who was carrying her.

"No…" she said still sounding feeble, "Couch please."

Rorschach took her over and laid her on the couch, she struggled to get into a sitting position and he was quickly beside her helping to prop her up with pillows.

"What do you need?" he said with concern.

"water…." Said Scarlet, her throat was dry and burning, a few seconds later he came back with a glass and she gulped it down, he refilled it two more times for her. She was beginning to feel her strength returning but with it came the pain in almost every inch of her body.

"Rorschach grab the medical kit." She said, and he immediately headed for the kitchen cupboard where he knew it was hidden.

"Are you sure you don't want us to take you to a hospital Ms. Park?" said Daniel kneeling next to her in concern.

"You can call me Scarlet Daniel…. And yes I'm quite sure about that… I don't think any of my injuries are that severe… just annoying and painful." She said. Rorschach brought her the large wooden box and set it on the coffee table, then he sat down on the end of the couch by her feet, she couldn't help but notice how protective he was being.

"Yeah that's what I thought… " said Scarlet examining her own face in a small mirror, "I have a lot of bruising, but not to many cuts, and I don't think any of the bones are broken. The worst of it is this cut on my eye brow and the one on my lip, but the one on my lip is already healing, and I can take care of this one with a few butterfly bandages." She patched up the cut and then turned back to them.

"What I'm more worried about my ribs. I don't think they are broken, but I need to check them, and then if you don't mind Ms. Juspeczyk, I'll probably need your assistance bandaging myself." Scarlet explained.

"That's fine…" said Laurie kindly.

"Ok… well we'll go wait outside." said Daniel.

"You can't be standing in the hallway dressed like that…" said Scarlet, "Laurie and I will move to the bedroom, I think I'm ok to walk again."

She stood gingerly, her ribs were killing her, and with Laurie's help she hobbled to her room. She sat down hard on the bed and breathed a sigh of exhaustion. She slipped her shirt over her head and looked down at her torso.

"Oh Jesus… look what they did to you…" said Laurie in anger as she saw the multitude of dark bruises across Scarlet's chest and stomach.

"yeah they weren't exactly gentlemen…." Said Scarlet with a grimace as she gingerly ran her hands along her ribs, "I don't feel any breaks or cracks…" she said, "which means I either have deep bruising or hair line fractures, which require the same treatment, bandaging me up and enduring the pain for awhile."

She stood up again and lifted her arms so Laurie could start bandaging her ribs.

"It's a good thing Rorschach didn't see this…" Laurie said shaking her head, "He was already flying off the handle, I'd hate to see how mad this would make him."

"He was really that mad?" said Scarlet with a slight smile.

"He was livid, I thought he would rip those guys to pieces with his bare hands… he probably would have if Dan and I hadn't stopped him." Scarlet smiled again, and Laurie gave her an inquisitive look.

"You really love him don't you?" said Laurie

"yeah… I think I do… why?" said Scarlet.

"Well Dan was talking with him about it earlier, when we were on our way to get you. I was just so skeptical, I mean that a woman could really find him attractive….you don't even know what he looks like, do you?" said Laurie, as she finished the bandage.

"No… not technically, but to some people, love is about more than physical appearance." said Scarlet slightly frostily.

"I didn't mean to offend you Scarlet…." said Laurie

"You're entitled to your opinion." said Scarlet still rather formally. Laurie didn't say anything else, she simply helped Scarlet back to the living room.

"are you alright?" said Rorschach the minute they walked back out.

"I'm going to be sore for awhile but I'll be fine." said Scarlet with a dry smile as she sat down on the couch.

"We got a lead on who ordered your kidnapping, with think it's Lawrence McKinney, head of the Irish mob, he's been out spoken against the watchmen for quite some time now." Said Daniel, "We're planning on paying him a visit tonight, to make sure no one comes after you again."

"thank you all…" said Scarlet, looking around at them, "I owe you my life and I will never forget what you have done for me…"

"We would never leave one of our own to die Scarlet…" said Dan.

She smiled at him and then they were all quite for a moment. Daniel and Laurie looked at where Rorschach and Scarlet sat on the couch, and then exchanged a knowing look.

"We're gonna go get Archie fired up, and keeping looking for McKinney, feel better Scarlet." Said Daniel, and with that they left.

Rorschach and Scarlet sat in silence. He was sitting at her feet again but he seemed to be staring at the wall lost in thought.

"So I guess we're even now huh?" said Scarlet with a gentle teasing voice, "I saved your life, you saved mine."

"Scarlet… I'm so sorry. Shouldn't have left you like that, should have stayed, or brought you along…." He put his head in his hands.

"Hey…. Stop it…" said Scarlet gently, "this wasn't your fault, even if you had been right here in New York it probably still would have happened."

"but I wasn't… and they hurt you for two days before I could get to you…" he said gruffly, "Partners don't leave each other, I shouldn't have gone."

'You needed to go…" said Scarlet inching closer to him, "I would have been furious with you if you didn't."

"thought we wouldn't make it in time…" said Rorschach, looking down at his feet, 'thought I would lose you." He said quietly.

"You didn't lose me… I'm right here…" said Scarlet she threw caution to the wind and scooted close to him, she slipped her hand into his and caressed his face with her free hand, 'I'm right here…" she repeated. She felt an involuntary shiver run through him and he seemed deep in thought. Suddenly he turned to look at her.

"Scarlet…" he said quietly, "Close your eyes please."

"Alright… " she said as she did so, "Why?"

"Want to try something…" said Rorschach.

00000

Rorschach was overcome with emotion, he had never felt so much like he needed another human being. He was vulnerable, he was exposed, and he was very afraid, yet at the same time he had never felt more whole in his entire life. Scarlet slipped her hand into his, she put her other hand on his face, her touch was soft and gentle it felt like each touch left a trace of her with him like imprints in a sidewalk. He suddenly was overcome with an urge, as he looked at her perfect face he wanted to do something that he had never done before, never even dreamed of doing.

"Scarlet." He said, "Close you eyes please."

"Alright…" she said, and she closed them, "Why?

"want to try something…" said Rorschach.

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, he could not remember the last time he'd felt this frightened. He lifted his mask off the bottom portion of his face. He took a deep breath, he knew after the next few seconds there would be no going back. A tiny voice in the back of his brain was screaming at him for even considering this, but he ignored it because everything else inside him told him this was right, this was good. He gently put a hand under her chin and tilted her head up slightly, he slowly brought his face down to hers.

00000

Scarlet sat there with her eyes closed not sure if she dared hope this was going the way she thought it was. Suddenly she felt Rorschach gently put a hand under her chin and lift her face up slightly. Her heart caught in her chest, she knew what was coming and she still almost couldn't believe it was about to happen. Even with her eyes closed she could sense how close his face was to hers, she could feel his breath. Then he ever so gently brushed his lips across hers, she felt as though electricity shot through her whole body. His lips where rough but gentle, she moved her lips against his slowly, carefully. She wanted more of him, the kiss was soft and barely there and it was torturous to her, she felt another tremble run through his body and she had a feeling she was not alone in the sentiment. She reached up and put her hands on either side of his face pulling him in and kissing him more firmly, as she did she let her lips part slightly drawing him into a deeper kiss. At first he hesitated but after a long moment of straining against his own will she felt him give in, he wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her much more forcefully. After another moment of bliss he pulled away. She heard the distinct sound of him pulling his mask back over his face, and she opened her eyes.

"Need to go meet Daniel and Laurie." He said, his breathing was still slightly heavy.

"Ok…" said Scarlet.

"I'll be back later tonight. Try to get some sleep…" he said, and he walked to the door.

"Be careful out there…" said Scarlet.

"Be careful in here…" said Rorschach, and he left.


	11. Chapter 11

11.

Daniel had pulled Archie into his basement and landed her. It had not taken them long to find Lawrence McKinney. He had been cowering in a building in Middletown. He had admitted to them with a little leaning that his objective had been to kill a few watchmen and make them examples. He swore that he would never touch Tessa Park again, but unfortunately fro him, that wasn't near good enough for Rorschach.

"You didn't have to kill him Rorschach." said Laurie angrily for the third time.

"said before Midnight Phantom, if I didn't there would be no way to ensure Scarlet's safety…. Needed to send a clear message." He said stepping out of Archie.

"Well I'm not much of a fan of the messages you send… and I don't feel much like being associated with them anymore. Goodbye." with that she stomped up the stairs.

"Well it's nice to you see you two have put aside your differences and started becoming friends…" said Daniel sarcastically as he walked around Archie and checked external systems.

"Daniel…. Thank you." said Rorschach, "have gone above and beyond the duties of a friend tonight."

"Don't even mention it man…" said Daniel, "I'd like to think you'd do the same for me…"

"so our real problem now… is what the heck is going on with Adrian…" said Daniel.

"Any ideas…" said Rorschach.

"A few…" said Daniel, "But we're going to have to investigate further, I'll get in touch with a few contacts, and then we can talk."

"When?" said Rorschach.

"Well it's eleven now…. I don't think I'm going to get much sleep tonight… how about three?" said Daniel.

"Good." said Rorschach, "go see what I can find out on the street."

"I've got a better idea…" said Daniel, giving him a slight smirk, "Why don't _you_ go be with Scarlet. She's had a hell of a week, not to mention you two probably have a lot to discuss…"

"Kissed her Daniel…" said Rorschach, "Right before we left…"

"Yeah I figured something like that would happen." said Dan giving him a crooked grin, "good for you man. Now how bout you go take care of her for a little while, I think you both could use it…. I'll see you at three."

"ok…" said Rorschach, and he stood and walked towards the tunnel.

00000

Eleven thirty…. Scarlet glared at the clock on the wall. How the heck was she supposed to sleep when first of all her ribs were killing her, and second of all those few perfect moments with Rorschach had made her feel more alive and alert then she had in years. She closed her eyes and let her thoughts linger on the kiss, the feel of his lips, she involuntarily curled her toes and sighed. She wanted to kiss him again. What the heck was wrong with her? She had never reacted this way to Timothy. She knew she had loved Timothy dearly, she had adored kissing him, but it wasn't the same. There was something desperate about the way she kissed Rorschach, like every touch and intimate moment was stolen and precious. She rolled onto her side gingerly and glared at the dark TV screen. Her ribs started to throb again, so she rolled back over onto her back which was the most comfortable position at the moment.

She growled in frustration and pressed a pillow hard over her face, she was contemplating screaming into it when,

"thought I told you to try and get some sleep…" said Rorschach.

"I was…" said Scarlet, sitting up from her position on the couch, "it just hasn't been working very well."

He came over and knelt next to where she was lying on the couch.

"Do you need anything?" said Rorschach.

"Yes…" she said, and she ran her hand down the side of his face and rested it on the back of his neck, she pressed her forehead to his knocking his hat off, but he didn't move to retrieve it. He put his hand on the side of her neck, rubbing her cheek with his thumb.

"Scarlet…" he said, his voice barely above a whisper. She gently kissed the spot on his mask where his cheek was, then his nose, she brushed her lips across his through his mask and he inhaled deeply, she felt him tense and hold her tighter. She could feel his internal struggle, she knew he was fighting to keep his control, while all the while wanting her as desperately as she wanted him. He pulled her away and looked at her; he put his hand on the side of her face.

"Slow down." He said gently, and she immediately obeyed.

"Hungry?" he said.

"A bit…" said Scarlet, trying to not let the terrible amounts of frustration that were building show in her face.

"How about an omelet?" he said, and he went to the kitchen to start making it.

After a moment she got up and followed him. He stood at the stove warming the frying pan. She walked over to him and ran her hand along his shoulders; he sighed and turned to her. As much as he was resisting she knew his resolve was wearing down quickly. This time it was him that initiated he slipped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him. Once again she felt as though her body had been wired to electricity. He put his forehead to hers again, he gently touched the tip of his nose to hers. He ran his fingers through her hair, and she leaned into his touch sighing in happiness and also frustration. She put her hands on each side of his face, he tightened his grip on her. She moved her hands down to the edge of his mask and began to lift it.

"No Scarlet." His words were gentle but firm as he pulled her hands away from his mask.

"Why…." She whispered.

"The face under this mask… it's not who I am…" he said.

"You're right…" said Scarlet, "but Rorschach… this mask isn't who you are either. Who you are isn't made up of flesh and bones. Who you are is about everything you've done, about who you've chosen to be." She touched his face gently, "I don't want you for this mask, or what's behind it. I wanted you for what's in your heart, and you soul. But I also want to be able to look into your eyes when I tell you that I love you, and know that you love me too."

Rorschach stood there in silence, she felt him shaking slightly, she wasn't sure exactly what was going on in his head at that moment, so she pressed her luck just a little further.

"Do you trust me?" she said gently.

"Yes…" he said immediately, his voice was a hoarse whisper.

"Then trust that when I take this mask off, I won't see just Walter Kovacs, that I will see you… I always see you…" she rested her hand on his heart and he covered it with his and squeezed it tightly

Scarlet moved her hands back to the base of his mask, she began to lift it again, but this time he didn't stop her. Her hands trembled slightly with apprehension and excitement. What if Laurie was right? What if he truly was not attractive to her? She was disgusted at herself for even thinking it, no matter what he looked like she would love him, she did love him. She pulled the mask completely off his face and her breath stopped, she momentarily forgot how to inhale.

She had been stupid to worry even for a second. She gently touched the side of his face, relishing the feel of his skin. It was curious, she realized she had the same reaction to him that she did to Adrian, except in complete reverse, when looking at Rorschach she could appreciate that by societies standards he would probably be considered plain, if not down right unattractive, but to her…. She'd never seen a more beautiful face in her life. She ran her hand through his short red hair, it was the color of copper, she traced the features of his face, high cheek bones, prominent jaw line, and freckles everywhere. She smiled, she wanted to kiss every one of them. She looked back to her favorite feature the one that had first stolen her breath, his eyes. They were huge, to her they seemed to take up half his face, and they were bright piercing blue, a color of blue she had never seen in eyes before. Except for one time….

"it was you!!" she said in shock, "On the courthouse steps… all these months, it was you!"

"Needed to keep an eye on you…" said Rorschach with a slight smile. His smile reached his eyes…. Scarlet could not get enough of looking at him. She leaned in a kissed him gently. She continued to just stare at him absentmindedly running her fingers through his hair. He seemed almost slightly self conscious, she was sure it had been a long time since someone had stared so intently at his face.

"So…. should I put mask back on now…" he said quietly.

"No!" said Scarlet a little too quickly, he looked up at her with such a soft and vulnerable expression that her heart seemed to melt.

"You're perfect…" she whispered gently kissing his forehead, and then each of his cheeks, and then his nose.

He scrunched his eyes closed and inhaled deeply. She looked at his face and saw that he seemed to be over come with emotion. He gently touched her face, his breathing was uneven. She wondered if he was going to cry, and as she did she felt the emotion welling up in her as well, she loved him so much. Suddenly she was caught off guard as he in one quick motion slipped his hands behind her neck and pulled her to him, he kissed her hard and passionately. She didn't hesitate; she slipped her arms around his waist and kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm. Their bodies were pressed tight together but Scarlet was still aching for him, it was as if no matter how passionately she kissed him it wasn't enough, she wanted more. She ever so slightly ran her tongue along his lip experimenting with what he would do, she felt him tense momentarily in surprise but then he parted his lips and began to kiss her deeply. She felt her heart beating wildly, it had been years since she had felt this way. She felt warmth beginning to seep through her body. This was easy, being with him, he made it so simple.

"_Too simple…" _her conscience nagged, "_You shouldn't rush into this without talking about it, you'll regret it…."_ She groaned to herself, knowing it was right, she mustered up all her self control and pulled her lips from his.

"Rorschach hang on a minute…" she gasped, her breathing was ragged and her heart was pounding out of her chest.

"What's wrong." Said Rorschach, his breathing was rather uneven as well.

"It's just… well… is this going where I think it's going...?" she said timidly, feeling that if she was completely wrong she would probably die of embarrassment.

He stood there for a long moment looking at her appraisingly, he ran his hand through her hair as he did.

"Most likely…" he said.

"Well…." Said Scarlet, taking his hands in hers, "It doesn't have to… I mean… I don't need… We don't have to… I can wait…." She finally finished feeling stupid; she looked into his face and felt much more assured.

"I want to wait until you're ready." She said firmly.

He sighed and rested his hand along the side of her neck. He leaned in and kissed her softly.

"The highest form of respect and commitment," he said kissing her cheek lightly.

"Yes…" she whispered, and he began to kiss her again. This time her conscience seemed to be giving her no issues, he knew what he was doing, and he wanted to do it, so did she.

"Come on…" she said pulling away and taking his hand, she led him down the hall towards her room, if she was going to make love that night she was not doing it in her kitchen.

When they got to her room he entered it shyly. She turned and gave him another long lingering kiss.

"still trust me?" she said softly.

"Always…" he answered.

She gently pulled him over and pushed him into a sitting position on her bed, then she climbed into his lap and began to kiss him again. He clung tightly to the back of the t-shirt she was wearing balling the material up in his fists. She slowly let her hands reach down and undo the buttons on his jacket, he slid out of it easy and it was tossed aside. Her hands were trembling with excitement and slight nervousness as she began to undo the buttons on his shirt. A few seconds later she slipped his shirt off his shoulders and threw it to the floor next to his jacket. His body was amazing, she let her hands run down his well defined chest and stomach, his skin was so soft. She kissed along his broad shoulders, and she felt him tighten his grip on her and inhale deeply. She could tell he was still very nervous, she sat up and put her forehead against his and looked deeply into his eyes, he seemed so scared and vulnerable, she knew he was trusting her completely in this moment. She took his hands from where they were clamped firmly at her waist, she directed them to the bottom edge of her shirt all the while keeping her eyes locked on his, showing him it was alright. He gently lifted her t-shirt off of her and it joined the growing pile of clothes on the floor. She saw anger and then sadness flicker across his face as he softly touched the bruises on her chest and stomach, he leaned up and tenderly kissed a particularly angry purple bruise that was just under her right collar bone. Scarlet closed her eyes and sighed she couldn't remember the last time she felt anything as amazing as the touch of his lips on her skin. He slowly moved his lips up and began to kiss the side of her neck, she gave another sigh of pleasure and wound her fingers in his hair. She pulled his mouth back to hers and began to kiss him again. He kissed her passionately and deeply, as he did she reached her trembling hands down and began to undo his belt, he gave a sharp intake of breathe and began to kiss her even harder. She was caught off guard as he slipped his arm around her and in one swift motion he stood up, lifting her easily with one hand so she now had her legs wrapped around his waist. He very gingerly laid her down on her bed and positioned himself over top of her. She knew he was worried about her injuries. He looked down at her with the strangest expression, she wasn't quite sure how many emotions where churning inside him, all she knew was that she loved him more than she could ever imagine. His attention was suddenly drawn to her now bare hip, he ran his thumb over the tattoo there.

"How long have you…." He began.

"Since I was seventeen…." She said, "it reminded me of the kind of person I wanted to emulate, of the good people in this world."

Rorschach kissed the spot on her hip, and she involuntarily bit her lip. She had never imagined the magnitude to which he could drive her crazy. He brought his face back to hers and kissed her slowly, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing their bodies together tightly and closed her eyes.

00000

It was quiet, neither of them made a sound. They were simply enjoying each others presence. Scarlet lifted her head from where she was resting it on Rorschach's chest and she looked up into his face. He looked back at her and held her gaze, absentmindedly playing with her hair.

"So… how you doing?" she said and she rested her chin on his chest, still looking at him.

"Good." He said quietly.

She scooted closer to him and wrapped her arms around him as she put her head on his shoulder.

"Scarlet…." said Rorschach.

"Yeah…" she said, as she kissed his shoulder, she loved watching him speak after months of never seeing his face, it was enthralling to her. Every expression was exciting. He had big teeth, and big ears...she suppressed a happy giggle, she found him absolutely adorable.

"Tattoo on your back….what does it mean?" he said.

Scarlet smiled, she had a second tattoo that was right between her shoulder blades that Rorschach had noticed a little while earlier.

"_Quis Custodiet ipsos custodes."_ quoted Scarlet, "It means; _who watches the watchmen?"_

"Why would you get that?" said Rorschach curiously.

"Because it keeps me from getting a Messiah complex like the one Adrian had…" she said running her hand through his hair. "It reminds me that my actions have consequences, and in the end… there's someone bigger than me out there…"

"You believe that…" said Rorschach, "In God…"

"Yeah… I mean… it doesn't make sense not to… look at the intricacy of everything around you… I can't bring myself to believe that things like the perfect engineering of a bee's wing that makes it fly, or the complicated system that makes a brain function, or a heart beat…" she kissed his chest, "could be a random co-incidence. Do you?"

"No…" said Rorschach, "I believe we were made… but I figured out a long time ago, God may have made us, but he doesn't seem too concerned with us anymore, he's let us slowly kill ourselves…"

"see now that's where I think you're wrong…" said Scarlet.

"How so?" said Rorschach as he slipped an arm around her waist.

"I think…. That if you look closely, God is working very hard to clean up all the disasters that humans keep creating with their bad choices, and their wasted lives. I mean look at us…" Scarlet slipped her hand into his entwining their fingers together.

"we're both so broken, the world and humanity has hurt us, ripped us apart and made us less than whole, but in our brokenness somehow against all odds we found each other, and we fit, like pieces of a puzzle, together we can be whole again. I can't believe that is just coincidence, I have to believe that it means there's someone out there bigger than us, who's fighting for the good people in this world."

She looked into his eyes and he stared back intensely. He began to kiss her slowly and she immediately responded, she shifted her weight and began to push him gently onto his back he complied immediately but then he inhaled deeply and broke the kiss off.

"What time is it?" he said.

"About two forty, why?" said Scarlet looking at him quizzically.

" have to go…" he said putting his face in his hands and sighing in frustration, "Told Daniel I would meet him at three o'clock."

"Oh…" said Scarlet quietly, she didn't want him to leave. "So when will I see you next?" she said putting on a brave face as he climbed out of bed and began to get dressed.

He stopped and turned to her, he sat back down on the edge of the bed and gave her a almost shy look.

"Was planning on coming back… in a few hours… if…. You want me to." He said slowly.

"I want you to…" said Scarlet immediately, and she leaned over to kiss him.

He stood back up and finished putting on his clothes, as he buttoned up his coat he looked over to where she was lying smiling at him.

"What?" he said raising an eyebrow at her.

"It's just kinda cool to get to watch you put your outfit on…" she said with a smile.

He shook his head and leaned over the bed to give her a long kiss. He finally pulled away but kept his face close to hers.

"Be back soon…" he said, and he headed for the living room to collect his mask and hat.

"Hey…" said Scarlet, and he stopped in the doorway and turned his face back to her.

"I love you." said Scarlet.

"Love you too." said Rorschach, and it sounded as though he could barely believe the words were coming out of his mouth.

Scarlet smiled at him and he disappeared from the doorway. She rolled over on her back and let out a long sigh. She was so excited she was sure she would be awake all night, but it only took a few minutes before the exhaustion hit her.


	12. Chapter 12

12

As Rorschach made his way down the familiar route to Daniel's house he could not even find words for what he was experiencing. He felt as though his feet were carrying him but his consciousness was no where near his actual body. He was in shock and awe about what he had just done, it was an act that he a found vile and repulsive for so many years, a part of his nature he fought against with every fiber of his being. Yet in that same way, what he had just done was nothing like that vile repulsive act, and he truly felt no remorse, it had been beautiful, and perfect, life changing…. It had been what it was supposed to be. Not cheapened, as Scarlet put it. He shoved his hands into his pockets and shook his head slightly as a crazy notion popped into his head. He found it strangely ironic how even though he had been brought back from the dead just a few short months ago, it was this night, that he felt like he was truly reborn.

He walked down the tunnel and hopped briskly off the Subway tracks onto the basement floor. Daniel was sitting at a large table in the middle of the room looking at a folder full of papers with Laurie, they both looked exhausted.

"Hello Daniel…. Miss Juspeczyk." Said Rorschach, and he sat down on a stool next to Dan.

"Hey Rorschach…" aid Daniel.

"What have you found out about Adrian?" said Rorschach.

"Well I talked to my contact… he said that there has definitely been increased activity in both the company building, and also Adrian's private building, but there has been no actual sign of Adrian. I think tomorrow I'm going to go talk with the Veidt industries people and ask them exactly what they're up to…." said Daniel.

"Not meaning to take over plan Daniel, but don't you think Scarlet might be better at job? She is public official…" pointed out Rorschach.

"Yes but she won't be up and around for a few days…" said Laurie.

"She has a phone… and enough political clout that she could get answers." said Rorschach.

"If you think she's up to it…" said Daniel.

"I'd imagine so… but I'll make sure…" said Rorschach.

"Ok… well the second thing I think we should do is keep an eye on Veidt Towers to see if Adrian is going in and out." said Daniel. "I already went over there tonight for a few hours…. But it seems quiet… Laurie is going to keep an eye on it tomorrow for the day; do you think you could take a shift tomorrow night?"

"Probably." said Rorschach.

"Alright… well now that we're all settled…. I think I'm going to bed… it's been a horribly long week…" said Laurie, she turned and headed for the stairs.

"Miss Juspeczyk," said Rorschach, and she turned around, "wanted to thank you. You have sacrificed a lot this week, for someone you don't even care for. Appreciate it."

Laurie stood there looking at him in shock, her mouth dropped open and it was a good thirty seconds before she realized it and quickly closed it.

"No problem…" she said her voice thick with confusion and shock, and she turned and slowly began to walk up the stairs.

"Ok… what in the world is going on with you…." said Daniel looking at him curiously.

"What?" said Rorschach.

"You walk in here tonight and you're almost…… amiable. Which is a big deal for you… and then what you just said to Laurie… that was a very…. Decent…. Thing to do… and I want to know what the heck happened to you…"

"that different…huh?" said Rorschach sitting down on the edge of the tunnel.

"Well no…. that's the funny thing…" said Daniel sitting next to him, "You're not acting like a complete stranger… you're acting….. more like you did when I first met you…. Before all the bad stuff went down."

"Huh…. More human…. You mean." said Rorschach.

"Yeah I guess…." said Daniel.

"Hurm…. Interesting." said Rorschach.

"Were you at Scarlet's these last few hours?" asked Daniel.

"Yes." said Rorschach.

"and what happened?" said Daniel.

Rorschach did not answer, and he did not look up. It wasn't that he didn't trust Daniel, it was just that he was still reeling from the reality of what happened himself, and to say it out loud might make it too real too quickly.

"What happened…?" asked Daniel again slowly, but the tone of his voice made it obvious that he was catching on very quickly.

"No way….." he said in awe, "No way! Good for you Rorschach! I know I'm probably the only person in the world who could say this without getting half my limbs broken, but it's about damn time!"

Rorschach looked up at him sharply giving him a glare and then he looked back down at his hands giving an uncomfortable grunt.

"Hey…. You love her right?" said Daniel.

"Yes…" said Rorschach.

"Then don't feel embarrassed, it's a good thing… I'm really happy for you." said Daniel kindly.

Rorschach hopped off the ledge into the subway tunnel. He turned to look at Daniel.

"What time do you want me at Veidt' building tomorrow?" he said.

"Around dusk." said Daniel.

Rorschach began to walk down the tunnel but he stopped. He knew he had to say something to Dan before he left, he turned around.

"Thank you Daniel…" he said, " know you mean well… just…. Very new for me… hard to talk about…"

"I totally understand." Said Daniel with a smile, "now get outta here…"

Rorschach turned and continued up the tunnel as Dan turned off the basement lights and headed upstairs into his house.

00000

When Scarlet woke up the morning light was trickling through the curtains on her window. She looked at her alarm clock. It read eight forty five, she was late for work! She made to jump out of bed, but her ribs screamed at her and all the events of the previous three days came crashing back. It hadn't all been a bad dream. She flopped her head back on her pillow and looked out the window, she focused on the particularly nice dream she'd had the night before about her and Rorschach. Suddenly she felt someone shift next to her and she stiffened. Was it too much to hope that she had not been dreaming that either? She slowly and gingerly rolled over and a huge grin spread across her face. Rorschach was sleeping on his back his left arm reached out to her in a sort of protective way. He must have come back late, because he hadn't woken her when he climbed into the bed. She smiled as she watched him sleep, he was so relaxed, his eyelids fluttered slightly and he gave a deep sigh as he rolled a little to the side and reached for her in his sleep, she willingly cuddled close to him just enjoying that he was there, and he was hers.

Suddenly her reveling was interrupted by a shrill ring. Rorschach jumped awake and looked around as if someone was about to attack them.

"It's ok Rorschach it's just the phone…." said Scarlet as she kissed his shoulder and then leaned over to pick up the receiver on the stand next to her bed.

"He-eh-eh-llo…" said Scarlet through a massive yawn.

"Tessa!" said a panicked voice from the other end of the phone, "Oh my God you're alright! It's all over the news that the Watchmen saved you… I wanted to call last night but I decided to wait until I got into work and then you weren't here so I was worried, but you're ok!"

Scarlet sighed and shook her head in an affectionate sort of way. It was Lucy. Lucy had been Scarlet's assistant for the past two and a half years, and in many ways she was the closest thing to a friend that Scarlet had.

"Calm down Luc…" said Scarlet, "I'm fine… really the Watchmen saved me, I'm a little banged up but I should be back by the beginning of the week."

"Good." Said Lucy, "Oh and I'm on my way… I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"What? No… Lucy I'm fine you don't have to…" she began.

"Don't even try it Tessa I'm already in the cab, and it's by order of the mayor so I'll see you soon." She said and she hung up.

"Uggh!" said Scarlet hanging up the phone slightly forcefully.

"What's wrong…." said Rorschach.

"My assistant is on her way over…" said Scarlet grumpily.

"Guess I should probably go…" said Rorschach.

"I don't want you to go!" said Scarlet in annoyance.

Rorschach sat there in silence for a few moments. He seemed very deep in thought. Scarlet reached up and ran her hand through his hair, she was curious what he was scheming.

"Guess…. We could always let her meet me…" he said looking down at Scarlet.

"Are you serious?" said Scarlet in shock.

"yes…" said Rorschach, "If I'm going to be with you… people will find out, you're very public figure. Why not get over with."

"You'll need a name." said Scarlet, "You can't exactly be Walter Kovacs or Rorschach, both of those names raise a bit of suspicion."

"Hurm… hadn't thought of that…" said Rorschach.

Scarlet absentmindedly played with the hair at the base of his neck as they both sat there and thought, suddenly it came to her.

"Hey…. What about Charlie? That' was your Dad's name right? Charlie?" she said gently.

He looked down at her with a touched expression.

"perfect." He said.

"Hmmm…. But now you need a last name…" she said, as she settled back in to playing with his hair and thinking.

"Blake." He said a moment later, "Should be Blake."

"So Charlie Blake…." said Scarlet trying it on for size, "I think it fits you perfectly."

She leaned in and began to kiss him, but a moment later the doorbell rang. She pulled away and sighed in frustration.

"Ok then Mr. Blake…. Here we go." She went over to the drawer and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and a T-shirt.

"These were Tim's… they'll be a bit big on you, but I can't have you meeting her in the outfit you usually wear… or the one you're wearing right now…." she added the last part with a wink. She walked over to the bed and leaned down to kiss him.

"Gimme a few moments to calm her down and explain things… ok?" she said, and she kissed him again jut as the doorbell rang a second time.

Tessa sighed and wrapped her robe around herself, as she made her way to the living room, she went over and opened the front door and she was immediately attacked by Lucy.

"Oh! Scarlet I'm so happy you're ok!" Lucy gasped.

"Thanks Luc…" said Scarlet through gritted teeth, "But could you not hug me so hard by ribs are bruised."

"Oh I'm so sorry!" said Lucy, she quickly went to the dining room table and put a box down.

"I brought you your favorite, two blueberry muffins and an earl grey." said Lucy, "I figured you wouldn't have the energy to make breakfast. But I guess you were making eggs…" she said looking over at the frying pan and carton of eggs on the counter, that had been quickly forgotten the night before. Scarlet smirked.

"No I was going to make that last night…. But I got side tracked…" said Scarlet with another smirk as she took one of the muffins from the box and bit into it hungrily she hadn't realized how famished she was.

"So what happened?" said Lucy breathlessly.

"Pretty much exactly what it said on the news…" said Scarlet sipping the cup of tea, "I got kidnapped in a taxi, and the watchmen saved me…"

"Wow…." said Lucy in awe, "Which Watchmen?"

"Night Owl, Midnight Phantom, and Rorschach." said Scarlet.

"Oooo… you met Rorschach? Is he as scary as everyone says he is?" said Lucy her eyes bright with excitement.

"Nah…" said Scarlet still picking at the blueberry muffin, "I mean… he probably is if you're on his bad side… but he just seems a little rough around the edges to me."

"So are you ok? Really?" said Lucy looking at her in concern, "I can stay with you today and help you out… I don't like the idea of you being here alone when you're hurting…"

"Well….." said Scarlet looking down at her cup of tea with a guilty smile, "I'm not exactly alone…"

As if on cue the sound of movement was heard in Scarlet's bedroom and Lucy turned quickly to look down the hall and then turned back to Scarlet with a confused and shocked expression that quickly turned into a sly smile.

"Ms. Park have you been keeping secrets from me?" said Lucy. "Who's in there?"

"It's my….." Scarlet paused, she realized she actually had no clue what to call him… her partner? Her lover? "….my boyfriend." She finished but she felt like that was not an adequate enough term to describe him… oh well…

"Since when do you have a boyfriend??" said Lucy excitedly.

"Well we met a few months ago… and things just sort of clicked…" said Scarlet, this part was at least honest, "We've been keeping it very quiet because he's a bit of a recluse, he is very shy around people."

"No way…." Said Lucy still grinning, "and considering that he's here at 9 in the morning I'm guessing…"

"he came over last night when they brought me home, to take care of me… and one thing led to another…." Scarlet let her voice trail of and looked sheepishly at Lucy who was grinning from ear to ear.

"So you're pretty serious about this guy huh?" said Lucy knowingly.

"Yeah I think I am…" said Scarlet.

"So…. Can I meet him?" said Lucy.

"Yup…" said Scarlet, "He should be out any minute."

As if on cue Rorschach walked out of the hallway into the living room. Scarlet once again felt her heart skip a beat. He looked absolutely wonderful in the casual sweat pants and t-shirt she had given him, he looked like he had always belonged here in her home. She suddenly wished that Lucy was not present, and the thought made her blush slightly.

"Hi…." Said Lucy slowly and she reached out her hand to shake his, "I'm Lucy, Tessa's assistant."

"Charlie…" said Rorschach politely, "Nice to meet you."

He proceeded to kiss Scarlet on the temple and then go to the kitchen, he opened the refrigerator and took out her orange juice, he poured himself a cup and drank it then he put it in the sink and headed back for the hall.

"Going to take a shower." He said, "Enjoy your conversation." With that he walked back down the hall and a moment later they heard the shower start.

"Man of few words isn't he…" said Lucy with a smirk.

"Yeah…. Sorry…" said Scarlet, "I told you he wasn't much of a people person…"

"Nah don't worry about it... he was fine… I mean you're not much of a people person either Scarlet, I thought you hated me for the first six months I worked for you… but then I figured out you're just very private." said Lucy with a smile.

"Thanks Luc…" said Scarlet, she had always appreciated how much Lucy accepted her, even if she didn't always understand her, "So are you gonna mention it?" she added looking at Lucy.

"Mention what?" said Lucy.

"Oh come on…" said Scarlet giving her a slight eye roll, "our age difference… its ok you can ask I won't be offended."

"You know that actually didn't surprise me that much Scarlet…" said Lucy.

"Really?" said Scarlet.

"Oh come on… you've been affectionately called the Mom of our office for years now… everyone always commenting on how mature you are for your age. I think everyone expected that if you ever settled down it would be with an older guy who was more on your maturity level." explained Lucy.

"Huh… I guess that makes sense…" said Scarlet.

"So I guess I'd better get back to work…." said Lucy, "now that I know you're being properly taken care of."

"thanks again Lucy…" said Scarlet, and she stood slowly and walked with Lucy towards the door, "Tell the mayor I'll be back by Monday."

"Will do…" said Lucy giving Scarlet a quick hug.

"Oh and Lucy…" said Scarlet standing in her doorway, "You've been a wonderful confidant for the past three years, so I almost feel like I don't even need to say this, but please keep your knowledge of my relationship quiet, we'll go public when we're ready."

"Of course Tessa, you don't even need to ask…" said Lucy with a smile.

Scarlet smiled at her and closed the door. As she turned around she saw Rorschach coming back down the hall rubbing his short hair with a towel. He must have heard Lucy leave because he had put the sweat pants back on but had not bothered with the t-shirt. Scarlet smiled as she looked at him, she had no clue how anyone could not find him the most attractive man on the planet. He went into the kitchen and began to cook the omelet that he had left the night before. Scarlet followed him into the kitchen and slipped her arms around his waist, she kissed his shoulder and smiled.

"You smell good…" she said with a smile.

"Thank you." He said turning his head to kiss her's.

"Why the sudden urge for a shower? She teased as she went to the fridge and got out peppers and onions to add to the omelets.

"Needed something to do…" he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"So what's going on with Adrian… what did you guys find out?" she said, standing next to him and dumping the vegetables in with the eggs.

"Think he might be back in town. Watching Veidt Towers for signs of him." said Rorschach, "Plates please." He added and she grabbed two so that he could put the omelets on them.

They took their food and moved to the table, Scarlet was struck by the fact that this was the first time that had sat at the table and eaten together.

"Wondering if maybe you could make a few calls today, see what Veidt Industries is up to." He said.

"yeah… sure." Said Scarlet, "that shouldn't be too hard… I have a couple other things I'd like to do today as well though…"

"Like what?" said Rorschach raising an eyebrow at her.

"Well for starters I was thinking maybe I could throw your clothes in the wash, don't want that shower to be a waste." She said with a wink, and he gave her a slight glare but then a reluctant smile.


	13. Chapter 13

13.

"To your left!" yelled Scarlet as she flipped an attacker over her back.

Rorschach turned quickly and caught the man in the stomach with a kick and sent him flying into the drywall. Scarlet was taking on two more, she caught one with her right hook while bringing her leg around so her foot connected with the second one's nose.

"Scarlet!" shouted Rorschach, there were four more men advancing on them and they were trying to pin them in a corner. Rorschach threw his hand out and Scarlet grabbed it without hesitation he lifted her easily off the floor and she kicked off the wall for momentum he swung her around and she took all four men out in one kick. She landed easily on the ground in a crouched position and smiled up and the man who was still holding her hand.

"Nice…." She said, "We haven't used that move in months."

Rorschach began to tie up the men while Scarlet went over and picked up the phone to dial 911.

"Multiple felons apprehended at twelve fourteen Sycamore." She said into the receiver and then she dropped it back in the cradle and the two of them walked to the door. Rorschach caught up to her on the stairs to the roof, and she smiled again as she slipped her hand back into his.

"So why are we still catching small time criminals while Adrian is working in secret?" said Rorschach irritably a short while later.

"Because we still can't get a lead on how to pin him down." said Scarlet leaning back and letting the water rinse through her hair. Nightly showers together had become a tradition ever since Rorschach had moved in with her.

"Have to be missing something…" said Rorschach, he put his arms around her but he stared hard at the wall lost in his own thoughts.

"Hey…" said Scarlet, pulling his face back to hers so she could meet his eyes, "You've been brooding over this for the past six months. We now know that Adrian's back in New York, we've seen him. You know that whenever we're not keeping tabs on him, Laurie and Dan are, we're gonna get this thing figured out, we're gonna find him and make him tell us what he's up to."

"I know… just frustrating." said Rorschach.

"Believe me I know…" said Scarlet with a smile and she kissed him slowly. "Feel like relieving some of that frustration?"

Rorschach gave her a slight crooked smile and before she could blink he had scooped her up and slammed her against the shower wall kissing her fiercely. Scarlet grabbed handfuls of his hair and gasped as he ran his hands and lips roughly over her body.

_Ding dong!_

"God dammit! Who could be ringing my door bell at this time of night!' she spat in frustration but the next moment she closed her eyes and sighed in pleasure. "You know what…. I don't care… they can come back in the morning."

_Ding dong!_

"You should answer it…" said Rorschach pulling away.

Scarlet sighed and then glared at him in utter frustration. She climbed out of the shower and dried off before wrapping herself in her bath robe.

"Whoever it is I'm getting grid of them fast, so you…. Hold that thought." she said.

"Held." Said Rorschach, and he turned to continue showering.

Scarlet walked down the hall to the door just as the bell rang for a third time.

"I'm coming!" she said irritably, she opened the door and there stood Daniel and Laurie. She instinctively pulled her robe tighter around her, even though she knew it the robe covered her almost completely she still felt like she was wearing an improprietous amount of clothing in Daniel's presence.

"Daniel! Laurie! What's going on? Is everything aright? Are we in danger?" said Scarlet sharply.

"No no… everyone is perfectly fine…" said Daniel, "We've just come across some information that is key… it's about Adrian and it was very important that we tell you because we think that you might be the only one with a chance to speak to him."

"Really? Why?" said Scarlet breathlessly.

"We've gotten some info on his first public appearance; we wanted to tell you and Rorschach. We've been scouring the streets for him for the past hour and a half but nothing… so we decided to tell you, and let you pass on the message." explained Laurie, "It's really more prudent that you know anyway."

"Well if you wait a minute or two you can tell both of us…" said Scarlet, "Would you mind if I change into something slightly more appropriate?"

"Not at all…" said Daniel.

Scarlet walked back down the hall but before she went into her room she poked her head in the bathroom.

"Rorschach, Dan and Laurie are here…" she said.

"Why?" he said stepping out of the shower and grabbing a towel.

"They have news about Adrian." explained Scarlet.

"Be out in a minute." He said quickly grabbing his clothes of the edge of the sink.

Scarlet retreated to her room to put on clothes of her own but as she crossed the hall she couldn't help but notice the looks of shock on Laurie and Daniel's faces, she smirked.

A few moments later Scarlet and Rorschach met Dan and Laurie in the living room, Scarlet had changed into a pair of pajama pants and a long sleeved cotton shirt. Laurie was staring curiously at Rorschach who was wearing his usual sleeping attire of sweat pants and a white tank top, it was obvious she was not used to seeing him out of his costume.

"So what's the news." He said pointedly.

"Adrian is making his first public appearance at the mayor's annual Independence Day gala in two weeks." Said Daniel, "It's a very who's who crowd, but I'd wager that you…. (he looked at Scarlet) made the guest list."

"That I did…" said Scarlet, her stomach twisted uncomfortably, after all these years only two weeks separated her form being face to face with Adrian again.

"Looks like it's going to fall on you Scarlet…" said Laurie.

"I guess so…" said Scarlet, "But not ALL on me… at least I'll have back up."

"You will?" said Laurie looking confused.

"Oh come on Laurie… you know as well as I do it's been all over the papers for the past five months how New York's sweetheart Tessa Park has a mysterious, reclusive love interest named Charlie Blake, how do you think people would react if I came to the social engagement of the year alone?" said Scarlet.

"You're taking _him_ to the mayor's Independence Day gala?" said Laurie looking at Rorschach in disbelief, "Rorschach, with aristocrats?"

"He's very charming when he wants to be…" said Scarlet coldly glaring at Laurie.

"Not meaning to interrupt talking about me like I'm not here…" said Rorschach gruffly, "but perhaps should get back to topic at hand."

"Sorry Rorschach…" said Scarlet, "So Adrian will be at the ball… well at least we'll have an environment where things can't end ugly…"

"Yeah one would hope…" said Laurie giving Rorschach a glare.

Scarlet had had enough. She stood up from her chair and moved towards Laurie bristling with anger.

"No Scarlet." said Rorschach grabbing her arm.

"Laurie…" said Daniel in a warning tone, he had grabbed Laurie's arm as well as she had risen to meet Scarlet's challenge.

"How about you two just cool it." said Daniel sternly stepping between them.

Laurie sat back down on the couch, and Scarlet retreated to the arm chair but the two sat glaring at each other. Rorschach came up behind her and put his hands on each of her shoulders and rubbed them gently. She knew this was partly to calm her down, and partly to make sure she couldn't go after Laurie again.

"We know what to say to Adrian. Won't ruin our one chance, that's a promise." said Rorschach calmly.

"That's all we ask…" said Daniel, "We'll leave now at let you both get some sleep. I assume you live here now?" he added towards Rorschach.

"Yes… for about five months. Sorry I didn't mention it, keeping it quiet." said Rorschach.

"Obviously…" said Laurie dryly. Scarlet felt the anger prickle inside her again, but Rorschach squeezed her shoulders firmly and she forced herself to stay calm.

"We'll let ourselves out… thank you for allowing our intrusion Scarlet." said Daniel kindly.

"Don't even mention it, _Daniel._" said Scarlet pointedly. Laurie glared at her but Scarlet ignored her, and they left.

"Uggh! That woman! Why does a guy like Dan even put up with her!" said Scarlet furiously as she stormed out of the chair and down the hall towards their bedroom.

"Loves her." said Rorschach sitting on the bed next to her, "Expect many ask the same question of you and I."

"Well that's completely different…" said Scarlet, "Your good… (she kissed him) and kind..(she kissed him again)and a beautiful soul…" she wrapped her arms around him and kissed him deeply letting them fall back onto the bed.

"People just have a hard time seeing what's really inside you…" she said as she traced the lines of his face, "and then people like Laurie…(she spat the name like it was a dirty word) are so blind and stupid that they think they deserve to look down on you."

"Don't waste your energy being angry at someone like her…" said Rorschach and he pushed her down on the bed and kissed her tenderly.

"You're right… there are so many better uses for my energy…" said Scarlet with a smile.

00000

"Scarlet… going to be late." said Rorschach from outside the bedroom door.

"No we won't…" called Scarlet back, "I've been to a million of these things people always show up at least half an hour late, why do you think they call it fashionably late?"

Rorschach rolled his eyes. He felt distinctly uncomfortable. He did not at all like the idea of going to a public function, especially one of this kind. These were all Adrian's type of people, rich snobs with too much money, too much agenda, and not enough backbone. Yet he knew why they were going, they were wearing the mask to get the job done, and as much as he hated the idea, he would never send Scarlet in their alone. She was everything. Over the past six months Rorschach had marveled at how quickly and irreversibly he had become tied to her. The world had a meaning again, if only a small glimmer of one, it was as if she was the life line, the one thing that was holding him to humanity.

"Ready…" said Scarlet opening the door and smiling.

Rorschach felt his breath catch and he knew he was staring at her, but he didn't care. She was beautiful, she wore a jet black dress that was strapless and form fitting almost down to her knees where it flared out making her look like some sort of dark mermaid. The dress was accented along the bottom with wispy, feathery, bright red strips of fabric that made her look almost like she was floating.

"Do you like it?" she said with a shy smile, "I always feel weird being this dressed up."

"You're perfect…" said Rorschach immediately, "breath taking."

"You don't look so bad yourself Mr." said Scarlet with a smile and she came over and ran her hand along the collar of the tux she had rented for him, "you clean up pretty amazingly."

"Hurm…" he said raising his eyebrow at her, he wasn't sure if that was a compliment or not.

Scarlet threw her head back and laughed and then kissed him.

"Come on… let's go, we don't want to be more than fashionably late." She said with a smile.

00000

So far the party was an unbelievable success. Scarlet smiled in spite of herself as she looked around the room. She saw Rorschach engaged in what seemed to be an extremely intense debate with the deputy mayor. She had been beyond delighted with the way he handled himself at the party. No one would say that he was the suave or debonair type, but he _was_ brilliant and he was polite and courteous and within minutes he had all of her co-workers fascinated. She knew that he was not particularly fond the attention, but he handled it well and seemed to even enjoy the political and social debates at certain points. Scarlet's reveling was broken as the mayor himself walked up next to her.

"Quite and amazing man you have there Tessa… so keen and driven. Where on earth did you find him?"

"We met while doing some volunteer work for the city…" said Scarlet inwardly chuckling at the ironic truth in her statement.

"fascinating…" said the mayor, "Where is he employed? Because I'd love to have a man like him on our staff…"

"Oh that's very kind of you sir… I'm sure he'd be flattered, but Charlie isn't really interested in a career with the city… he just likes to help whenever he can on the side." explained Scarlet.

"Pity…" said the mayor, "There's so much potential in him… he could do very great things…" said the mayor wistfully.

"Oh believe me sir…" said Scarlet catching Rorschach's eye and smiling at him, "He already does."

Just then there was a loud noise overhead and everyone ducked as a huge helicopter swooped low over the party heading for the helicopter pad at the back of the mansion.

"Oh it would be like him to make such a huge entrance…" said the mayor slightly irritably.

"Who?" said Scarlet but then suddenly she realized, "Adrian Veidt?"

"Who else…" said the mayor heading towards the front doors of the mansion where Adrian would no doubt enter the party.

Scarlet made her way quickly through the crowd to the place where Rorschach stood.

"Are you ready?" said Rorschach in a slightly protective way. Scarlet knew that no matter how much he denied it, the idea of her seeing the man she had lived with for four years made him slightly ill at ease.

"As I'll ever be…" said Scarlet taking a deep breath, "Hang back ok? I want to talk to him before he sees you. You're existence is going to come as a bit of a shock."

"yeah, I'd wager not even Veidt could predict this." said Rorschach sardonically.

"I love you." Said Scarlet hugging him, the crowd around them was so enthralled with the imminent arrival of Adrian that their exchanged went largely unnoticed.

"I love you too." said Rorschach, "Now go."

Scarlet made her way towards the front of the crowd but before she even reached the base of the steps the doors were flung wide and in walked Adrian.

He was different, he seemed somewhat older, but not as old as he should have been. If anything he was even more handsome than the last time she had seen him. His hair was now a dark chocolate brown, and he had cut it short. It gave him a much more rugged look but it suited him, and made his bright blue eyes even more intense. He was wearing a dark black suit with a golden tie and he smiled benevolently at the crowd as he walked in.

"My friends…" he said as he stood at the top of the stairs and opened his arms, "It's been far too long…"

Everyone shied away. They were all guilty of bashing and discrediting him over the past years, they knew it, and what scared them more, was that he knew it too.

"We've had much darkness as of late…" continued Adrian in his soft smooth voice, "But I have decided, that I will let bygones be bygones. I have come back to stand before you and say, let the past be the past. Le us all forgive each other, and move forward together… into a better future."

A waiter had timidly brought him a flute of Champaign as he spoke, it was as if they knew his wishes before he spoke them.

_But then again,_ thought Scarlet, _that's not that uncommon for Adrian. _

"To the future…" said Adrian raising his glass, "May we all learn to live in love and hope, and learn from the mistakes of our fathers."

Everyone raised their glasses with him and there were many calls of, _here here! _And cheers. When everyone has toasted there was a thunderous applause and Adrian simply smiled and nodded in a humble manner. As the applause died down he began to descend the steps and the party resumed. Scarlet pushed her way through the crowd until she reached the base of the steps, she stopped there and looked up. Adrian was standing about half way down the steps, but when he saw her, he stopped dead.

"Tessa…" he said his voice soft, "I was hoping you would be here…."

"Oh there's no where else I would be Adrian. I told you… stopping you is now my life's greatest work." said Scarlet grimly.

"Tessa… we need to talk… there are a lot of things… that you need to know." said Adrian in a deadly serious voice.

"Like what you're doing with tachyons? Is that one of the things I need to know?" demanded Scarlet.

"Yes… but there are many other things that will need to be explained first." said Adrian calmly.

"No thanks…" said Scarlet, "This is me Adrian, you can't pull your genius salesman tactics on me and get me to believe anything, just tell me what I need to know."

"Tessa it's not that simple… so many things have changed…" said Adrian.

"Nothing has changed that would alter the situation between you and me." said Scarlet viciously.

"Are you sure about that Tess?" said a voice from the top of the stairs.

A woman descended the stairs. She was so graceful that she seemed to be floating. She wore a dress made of silk that flowed around her like liquid it was the color of polished jade and accented with gold. As she moved down the stairs Scarlet noticed the eyes of every man in the room turn to her. This didn't surprise her, that's the way it had always been. Men's eyes had always followed this woman, she had been beautiful, the most beautiful woman Scarlet had ever seen, ever since she was a child.

"Alexandria…" Scarlet breathed in disbelief.

"Hey Tessa…" said the woman as she stood beside Adrian and placed her hand elegantly on his fore arm, "long time no see…"

Scarlet stared at them in utter shock. She saw other eyes in the room still watching them as well. Scarlet had to admit that she had never seen a more striking couple. The two of them were intimidating and beautiful as individuals, as a team they gave off the uncomfortable feeling that they could accomplish anything they felt like, and without much effort at all.

"Didn't mean to shock you sweetie…" said Alexandria, "just funny how life works out sometimes isn't it."

"yes it is…" said Scarlet, still eyeing her former partner warily, but her confidence was coming back, Adrian thought he held all the cards, but she still had her Ace and it was time to play it.

"That was an impressive curve ball Adrian, but I have a feeling that I have something even more impressive in my bag of tricks…" said Scarlet vindictively.

"This isn't a game Tessa… I'm not trying to…" Adrian's voice trailed off as Rorschach made his way through the crowd and stood next to Scarlet.

"Adrian, meet my partner, Charlie Blake…" said Scarlet.

"Hello Veidt." said Rorschach; his voice was hard and rougher than usual.

"Charlie Blake…. Blake… that's clever…" said Adrian shaking his head, his eyes still wide with disbelief. "Tessa how in the world did you…"

"I found Jon…" said Scarlet, "Jon did it."

"Of course he did…" said Adrian, "Well this is a very interesting turn of events… and when you say your partner I assume you mean…"

Rorschach protectively put a hand on Scarlet's waist.

"Right…" said Adrian, "Well as truly fascinating as this all is… it doesn't really change what I have to tell you Tessa… in fact… it confirms it."

"What are you talking about…" said Scarlet moving closer to Adrian.

"Haven't you ever wondered Tessa…. Why you can see… didn't you ever think that it was quite a coincidence that you and Alexa here found each other, and you just _happened_ to both have abilities?" said Adrian.

"What…." Said Scarlet slowly, "Are you saying you're using the tachyon's to."

"Discover the truth…" said Adrian.

"And what have you discovered?" said Scarlet anxiously.

"Nothing I'm about to tell you in the middle of a room of aristocrats that's for damn sure." said Adrian.

"Adrian!" said Scarlet advancing, slightly.

"Be careful Tessa, don't want to scare all the little socialites. I _will_ tell you, if you come to me, you know where to find me. I'll answer you're questions Tessa, but I won't guarantee you'll like my answers." said Adrian.

He straightened back up and smiled at them brightly, putting back on his diplomatic face.

"Well we're being rude monopolizing your time… have a lovely evening. Ms. Park… Mr. Blake…." With that he flashed them his dashing smile, and walked into the crowd with Alexandria on his arm, as they walked away Alexandria turned back to Scarlet.

"See you soon… _Scarlet."_ She said whispering the last word, and then she turned to follow Adrian into the crowd.

Scarlet stood on the step in a daze for a moment, and then shook her head.

"We need to go…" she said quickly.

"Are you all right… what's happening.." said Rorschach in concern.

"I'll explain at home… we need to go!" said Scarlet sharply, and the swiftly walked up the stairs and out of the party.


	14. Chapter 14

14.

"Explain again please." Said Rorschach, from where he was sitting on their bed.

"I don't know!" said Scarlet who was pacing back and forth in frustration and confusion, "All I know is that I just saw my friend who I thought was dead! And she's with Adrian Veidt now, and apparently his tachyon research has to do with us!"

Scarlet flopped heavily onto the bed next to Rorschach and put her head in her hands… she could feel a migraine coming on, her brain was going a million miles a minute.

"Slow down…." Said Rorschach gently, "start at the beginning. Veidt said something about your powers, both of you. Can Alexandria see things too?"

"No… her power is different. It's kinesthetic not psychic." said Scarlet.

"What does that mean exactly?" said Rorschach.

"She can do…. anything. She only needs to see a person do something once, and then she can do it perfectly." said Scarlet.

"That's a convenient trick…" said Rorschach, and Scarlet could tell he was impressed.

"Why do you think she was one of the best Watchmen of our day? She's impossible to beat… as far as I know…." said Scarlet.

Rorschach smirked and Scarlet looked up at him in surprise.

"What's so funny?" she said.

"Nothing… just… bet that was frustrating for Adrian, he's not accustomed to being beaten." said Rorschach.

Now it was Scarlet's turn to smirk.

"No he's not…" she looked down at her hands and then back up at Rorschach, "You know we always wondered how in the world we found each other… two orphans who were so…. Unique… we always thought fate must have brought us to each other… now that sounds completely naïve… of course it was more than fate…." Scarlet stood a walked determinedly to the closet.

"What are you doing?" said Rorschach getting up off the bed and moving towards her.

"I need answers." Said Scarlet pulling her costume out of the closet, "I'm going to Veidt Towers to get them."

Rorschach reached past her into the closet for his coat but she grabbed his arm.

"No…" she said.

"You are _not_ going there alone." He said his voice tinged with annoyance.

"Yes I am…" said Scarlet, "I need to do this on my own, these are _my_ answers."

"I see… so suddenly I have no stake in this…" said Rorschach his voice hard.

"That's not what I meant… I just need to do this on my own." said Scarlet.

"Fine…" said Rorschach coldly, and he walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

Scarlet stood there staring at the closed door for a moment, she moved to go after him, but then changed her mind. She would make amends, but first she needed to find out the truth. She buckled the last buckle on her boot and then headed for the fire escape outside her bedroom window. She made her way down it to the street, before she began walking she looked back up at her apartment, she sighed and shook her head.

Scarlet used the staff entrance at the back of the Veidt Building, and she rode the staff elevator to the penthouse floor. She was standing in a small hallway with a door that she knew led to Adrian's kitchen, this was the way caterers got in for parties. She tried the door and it was locked, she gently shimmied it with her knife and opened it slowly. Alexandria was standing at the counter in a satin robe cutting up some fresh fruit. Tessa moved carefully towards her walking silently, Alexandria had her back to Tessa and Tessa didn't want to startle her. Suddenly Alexandria spun around with surprising speed and hurled the knife at Tessa who dodged just in the knick of time, and the knife stuck in the wall centimeters from her temple.

"Same old Alex… throw knives first ask questions later…" said Scarlet shaking her head.

"Most people who break into the penthouse of the most powerful man alive, aren't here to chat Tess…" said Alexandria as she walked over and pulled the knife out of the wall.

She gave Tessa a devious smile.

"You always were one of the few that could dodge my throw… that's why I liked you." She said, and then she went back to the fruit.

"He's in his study." She said not looking at Tessa, " I assume you know where that is…"

"No…" said Tessa slowly, "I've never been here…"

"Oh that's right…" said Alexandria, "You only lived together in Karnack…. Follow me then."

She pushed past Scarlet carrying the plate of fruit and walked down the hall. Scarlet gave her a curious look, there was hint of something decidedly hostile in the way Alexandria said those words. Scarlet followed her down the hall and into a door on the left. Adrian's study reminded Tessa very much of Karnack, a large room with a marble floor and a wall that had twelve large televisions which where all turned to different channels, the wall opposite it was covered completely by a bookshelf. Adrian was sitting in what appeared to be a large ornate chair behind his desk, it was so ornate it could almost be called a throne. He was reading a book about Ramses II that Scarlet was sure he had already read at least a dozen times. She was also quite sure that he was reading as well as listening to what was on each of the televisions. Adrian had trained his super human mind to be able to do multiple tasks at once with startling efficiency. Alexandria walked over to him with the plate of fruit, which she sat down on the desk and then put a hand on his arm.

"Adrian we have a visitor…" she said quietly, he looked up at her and then at Scarlet.

"Thank you Alexa…" he said and he put down the book, Alexa picked up a piece of the fruit and popped it in her mouth and then made to walk away, as she did Adrian caught her hand and kissed it softly. Tessa thought to herself how sweet it seemed, romance was a side of Adrian she had never witnessed but she knew him well enough to know he seemed to be genuinely in love. Alexa took a seat on the couch near the televisions and she careful let her eyes move from Scarlet to Adrian and back.

"You came even faster than I expected Scarlet…" said Adrian, "I didn't think your little watchdog would let you come so easily… where is he by the way? Circling the apartment waiting for the first sign of trouble?"

"No…" said Scarlet, "I told him I wanted to come alone…"

"Oh I bet he didn't like that…." said Adrian.

"Not particularly." said Scarlet, "But I didn't give him much choice in the matter."

"So how about we talk about why you're here Scarlet…" said Adrian.

"Ok…. Why am I here Adrian? You said you were using the tachyons to do research on our powers…. What did you find out?" said Scarlet.

Adrian stood up and moved over towards the couch that Alex sat on.

"Come have a seat Scarlet… this is going to be a long conversation…"

Scarlet reluctantly agreed and made her way to sit in an arm chair next to the couch.

"I've been doing research, not just with the tachyon energy, but in the files of the Pentagon and the C.I.A. and the FBI and anywhere else I can get into." said Adrian.

"Why?" said Scarlet.

"Scarlet after you left…. I've had never felt so alone in my life…. You were the only person who truly cared, and I lost you, then Rorschach's journal was published, and my days got even darker. I thought about ending my life… but I couldn't… as vain as it may sound, I knew that my knowledge, my wisdom, was invaluable to this planet, and I couldn't be selfish and take it from them, so I lived alone… in misery. Then one day… something unexpected happened… Alexandria showed up…."

The two of them looked at each other and smirked. Scarlet had a feeling that there was some inside joke that she was missing.

"When I found out about Alexandria's powers, it pricked even more at a thorn that had been growing in my side ever since I met you Scarlet. When I met her it became too much to ignore. The probability of me meeting one girl with extraordinary powers at random was unlikely… but plausible… the possibility of meeting two." Adrian slowly shook his head, "Then when Alexa told me that she had known you, I was sure… I made it my quest to discover the truth… and I did."

"What did you discover?" said Scarlet warily, she still wasn't sure if she wanted to hear what Adrian was about to say.

"Project Doulos." Said Adrian, his voice was very grave and a hard look crossed Alexandria's face as he said it making Scarlet begin to feel uneasy, what ever this was it wasn't going to be pleasant.

"Project _Doulos_?" said Scarlet.

"Doulos is a Greek word, it means bond servant, or slave." explained Adrian.

Scarlet felt some inside her lurch uncomfortably, she did not like where this was headed at all.

"In 1960 when President Kennedy first took office he came up with the project. He chose ten women from all over the country, none of them had any similarities, except for the fact that they were all lower class women who were in their sixth month of a healthy pregnancy. Then by order of the government, along with the normal prenatal vitamins they were secretly given a shot of something else…."

Scarlet stared at him in horror but he continued.

"The virus was never officially named… just call 14782, but it had the same affect on each child, they were born sick, and the doctors told parents something was wrong that they couldn't identify, and that the baby would die within six hours. Times were hard back then, and all but two of the mothers left the babies at the hospital to die…" explained Adrian putting a hand on Alexandria's knee as he spoke, Scarlet knew she had been one of the babies left at the hospital.

"But…. Why would the government want to kill ten babies… that makes no sense…" said Scarlet.

"Ah.. but they didn't want to kill you did they? Because you're still alive… what they wanted was for you to be abandoned." explained Adrian.

"Why would that matter…" said Scarlet shaking her head.

"Because the virus didn't kill you… it made you strong, it gave you abilities…" said Adrian slowly, "I for the Presidents purposes to be fulfilled…. You had to be tough, alone, not tied down."

"His purposes… what were those?" said Scarlet weakly.

"Isn't it obvious Tess…" said Alexandria, "We're the ace in the hole…"

"She's exactly right…" said Adrian, "You were created around the time that Dr. Manhattan came on the scene. Kennedy decided to make the Doulos as a contingency plan, so that Manhattan didn't have full power you were a secret army, so secret that not even you would know about it unless a time came that you were needed…. then Kennedy died… and everything changed."

"Nixon…" spat Scarlet in understanding, "What did he do…."

"He decided that you ten children were worth more than just a contingency weapon. He made you into something else…." Adrian looked out the window darkly.

"Scarlet did a man come to your school when you were eight… a special doctor…" said Alexandria.

"Yes…" said Scarlet slowly, "they said there was some kind of advanced form of the flu spreading throughout New York and everyone had to be vaccinated, I remember it made me really mad cuz I hated getting shots."

"The fact of the matter is Scarlet that your entire elementary school was vaccinated with placebos just so that they could have _you_ vaccinated without suspicion." said Adrian.

"Vaccinated with what?" said Scarlet.

"The virus was already in your blood. I'm guessing by that point you were beginning to experience the smallest traces of your powers. Nixon decided to put your powers to another use. Even before he put the Keen Act in place, Nixon knew he wanted to get rid of the Watchmen so he took the young army that Kennedy had created and genetically turned them into assassins." explained Adrian.

"What…." Whispered Scarlet in horror, she couldn't believe what he had just said, it couldn't be true.

"Do you know what imprinting is Scarlet?" said Adrian.

"Yes…" she said weakly, still reeling from his previous statement, "It's like with geese or ducks… the first thing that they see after they are born they think is their mother and they trust it completely."

"Well the shot Nixon gave you when you were eight is something he had his government scientists cook up that is very similar. The first Watchmen you ever saw you imprinted on, meaning you were drawn to them in a way that can't be explained, and most of you fell in love with them." said Adrian.

"No…." said Scarlet shaking her head, "I don't believe that… no…" Her heart felt like it was breaking in two. It wasn't real? How could that be? After all this time, it couldn't just be a genetic response… it just couldn't.

"Scarlet you haven't heard the worst of it yet…" said Alexandria in a quiet voice.

"How could it get worse? You just told me that everything I care about is a _lie_!" said Scarlet her voice trembling.

"Scarlet… there were ten of you… of those ten. Eight of you have formed close bonds with a Watchmen of the previous generation, become inseparable, in most cases began to live together or near each other, and then within three years six of those eight… killed the older Watchmen." Said Adrian.

"What??" gasped Scarlet and she jumped to her feet she looked at the two of them in horror.

"You've been programmed Scarlet…" said Adrian calmly.

"No…." said Scarlet she felt like she needed to run from the room to scream to tear herself apart.

"You were programmed to make him love you…" he continued.

"NO!" shouted Scarlet.

"You were programmed to kill him…" finished Adrian.

"No no no!" Shouted Scarlet and she collapsed onto the floor in sobs.

She felt Adrian put his hands on her shoulders, he knelt next to her and shook her gently.

"Scarlet you need to listen to me because this is very important, probably the most important thing I might ever say to you and you _must_ hear me." He said firmly. "They programmed you it's true… but with you… it went wrong… with you and Alexa… do you understand me? Something went wrong."

Scarlet stopped crying and looked up at him.

"It did?" she whispered.

"yes… haven't you wondered why I'm sitting here happily in love with the woman who was meant to be my demise?" said Adrian rubbing her shoulder. Suddenly the reality of his words hit Scarlet, he _was_ with the woman who was meant to kill him.

"So what went wrong?" said Scarlet.

"You were saved…" said Adrian simply, "Nixon's plan was for you to see the Watchmen in the newspaper, or on TV or some other way and to seek them out, and for almost every one of you that's how it happened, except for you and Alexa. The first time you saw a Watchman it was when he was promising to rescue your baby sister who you loved more than anything in the world. The first time Alexa saw a Watchman it was when he saved her life. Two very profoundly personal experiences, therefore a bond was created that Nixon didn't expect something deeper than what was calculated. For Alexa here, when the time came for her instincts to take over she couldn't go through with it." He leaned over and kissed Alexandria firmly on the head, "Love won out."

"So you're saying that will happen for me to?" said Scarlet.

"I honestly have no clue Scarlet… but there is a good chance yes… the only way to know is to wait for the situation to present itself…" said Adrian.

"_What?_" yelled Scarlet, "You want me to just go on living with the man I love and hoping that when the day comes that some switch flips in my brain and I want to kill him that 'fingers crossed' I can control it??"

"Well… yes. It's pretty much your only option…" said Adrian, "That or you could leave him, but this thing is in your blood, you're going to have to face it someday…"

Scarlet put her head in her hands… she felt dirty. Like her own blood was out to get her. Suddenly something dawned on her and she looked up trembling with rage.

"I wasn't abandoned…" she said softly, "Adrian… what did Nixon do about the kids who weren't abandoned…."

Adrian sighed and looked at her sadly.

"He made their lives broken…" he said.

"Did he have my sister killed…" said Scarlet.

"Yes…" said Adrian, "what governments do behind closed door is nasty business."

Scarlet stood up and screamed.

"This is bull shit Adrian! This man killed everyone I ever loved and now you're saying I have to sit around and wait to see if the god damned virus he put in me will make me finish the job he started… this is BULL SHIT!!" she kicked the table as hard as she could.

"I told you that you wouldn't like the answers…" said Adrian.

Scarlet turned and stormed for the door as fast as her legs would carry her.

"Where are you going?" called Adrian in alarm.

"Anywhere but here…" she said as she ran to the elevator.


	15. NOTE: THIS IS A STORY UPDATE FOR FANS

_Hey I just wanted to let all of you amazing people who like our story that we haven't forgotten you. We have some really great chapters and twists percolating. And of course plenty of sweet Scarlet/Rorschach moments, and also some things you probably aren't expecting. We've been taking a bit of a break because I'm getting married in a week and a half, and xlilknowitallx07 has some pretty time consuming but also exciting things going on at the moment too! ;) we just wanted to let you know that we haven't forgotten you guys! And we have exciting things in store… the story is not over by a long shot! Also… if anyone is interested… I'm looking for someone with artistic talent (I have none) to make me a Scarlet/Rorschach drawing. If anyone thinks that might be fun let me know… if not that's fine too. That's all for now, I promise we'll update soon. _


	16. Chapter 15

29.

It was cold, but Scarlet barely felt it. She wasn't feeling anything at the moment. She watched the rain make patterns as it streamed it's way through the gutter in front of her. She looked up and registered the light grayish blue color on the horizon, dawn was coming. She didn't care, she didn't care that she could feel her body shutting down from the wetness and the cold, in fact she welcomed it. It was nothing compared to the emptiness inside her. Everything she ever knew was a lie. She held her hand up and watched the drops fall from her fingertips. All the feelings she felt, the way his rare smiles made her heart swell with warmth, the way his blue eyes always made her feel weak even after all this time, how if he was gone for more than a few hours her world just didn't seem quite right, it was all a lie, a program, she never had a choice, and what was worse… it was never real. She looked down into the street from her rooftop vigil, she closed her eyes and pictured letting gravity take her over the edge. She could do it. No… she thought to herself, she wouldn't take the coward's way out. But what about him? As much as her heart screamed in pain, she knew she could never go back to him, she couldn't take the risk. Yet at the same time she knew that he would never let her go, she buried her head in her arms as the water trickled down from her sopping wet hair. She felt tears welling up inside her once again, just when she thought she had none left they came back with vengeance. She hated them… tears were for the weak, the powerless, and that was what she was now… powerless. She punched the cement rooftop beneath her with all the force she had and felt her knuckles scream in protest, she did it again and again feeling the blood on her hand. Suddenly as she raised her fist to punch the ground yet again a gentle hand grabbed her arm and stopped her.

"Scarlet what are you doing?" said a voice in alarm.

At first the voice did not register to her, she still felt like she was in a fog. She looked up into the man's face which was lined with concern.

"Daniel?" she said in confusion, her brain felt fuzzy.

"Yes Scarlet… what in the world are you doing here?" he put his hand on her head, "Oh my god you're burning up… how long have you been sitting out here. You've made yourself very sick Scarlet…"

He put and arm around her and helped her up, he took her the other side of the roof where Archie was. She wondered how in the world she hadn't heard the ship land, but she didn't really care, she felt numb. Daniel plopped her down in the passengers seat her wrapped her in a blanket and made her a cup of hot tea which she took but did not drink she just sat there staring at it.

"We've been out looking for you all night! When you didn't come back from Adrian's Rorschach came to us completely panicked. Hang on I'm going to get them on the radio and let them know you're ok." Daniel said.

"No!" said Scarlet, "You can't tell him that… I can't go near him…" she began crying again.

"What the hell are you talking about?" said Daniel once again sound alarmed.

Scarlet told him everything she cried a lot she yelled and at the end she tried to punch the wall again but Daniel grabbed her by the shoulders and held her still.

"Scarlet listen to me…" he said sternly, "this whole thing is terrible, I can't believe what that bastard Nixon did to you… it's beyond depraved. But Scarlet, that doesn't make what you and Rorschach have not real. It's real Scarlet, I've known him for over twenty years, what happened with Blaire it sent him to a dark place, darker than anything I could have even imagined. I knew he wanted to reach out to people, he just didn't know how, he was like a lost child reaching out into the darkness hoping someone would grab his hand. You did Scarlet, don't you see? You pulled him back, gave him back part of his humanity, you gave him something to live for, you are his whole world. Imprinting or no imprinting, that can't be genetically engineered."

"But Dan I could kill him!" said Scarlet quietly knowing her emotions were barely under control.

"No you couldn't…" said Daniel softly, "and you know it. I know… I know you're sacred, but in you're heart you know you would never hurt a hair on his head, because he is your whole world as well isn't he?"

"Yes..." whispered Scarlet as a lump began to rise in her throat and she felt the tears spill over the corners of her eyes.

"It's going to be alright…" said Daniel, "let's take you home ok?"

"Ok..." said Scarlet weakly.

Scarlet watched as the roof of her building rose towards them. Daniel set Archie down and then turned to her. She still could not shake the feeling of deadness that seemed to be seeping into her very core. Dan was right somewhere inside her she truly believed she would never hurt Rorschach, but what did it matter? She didn't feel like she could trust herself anymore, she felt like all of a sudden she was forced to be living in a strangers body, like she wasn't Scarlet anymore. Just then the door to the roof slammed open and Rorschach and Laurie came sprinting towards Archie. Daniel opened the side door so they could get in. As Scarlet watched Rorschach quickly make his way across the roof something inside her seemed to once again wake up, like a spark was lit in the very core of her being. He ran through the door and when he saw her he scooped her into his arms and hugged her fiercely. Scarlet felt herself let go, all the fear began to melt. She held him close and she let the tears come but they were tears of relief she buried her face in his shoulder. She knew that no programming, no virus, nothing made by man kind could ever change the fact that she would love him until the day she died. She looked into his masked face, the dark splotches were swirling.

"Where were you?" he said his voice think with concern and also relief.

"I…. I couldn't come home…" muttered Scarlet pathetically.

"Yes you could…" he said softly, "My fault… was stupid… shouldn't have been angry."

"No… that's not it… you don't understand…" Scarlet felt so weak, she felt her legs beginning to shake, she needed to explain this to him, but she was beginning to feel just how sick she really was.

"Rorschach… Scarlet has been through a lot in the past 24 hours… maybe you should take her inside and get her comfortable, and then let her explain." said Daniel.

"Right." Said Rorschach, and without a second hesitation he swooped her into his arms and headed for the house.

When he got her to the bedroom he sat her down carefully and looked at her. He pulled off his gloves and then his mask and knelt down in front of where she was sitting.

"Are you going to be ok to change?" he asked in concern.

"Yes… I'm fine." said Scarlet weakly.

"Change clothes and get in bed… going to go make you some tea." Said Rorschach, and he stood and kissed her forehead as he left.

Scarlet stood and stripped out of her soaking wet clothes. She changed into a pair of cotton pants and a sweatshirt and she climbed into her bed. She pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them tightly. She was on an emotional roller coaster. The fact of the matter was that she still felt like she couldn't trust herself. Suddenly she sat up. She assumed she must have dozed off from exhaustion. It was dark and she instinctively looked to the empty bed next to her. A sudden noise made her jump, she imagined that it was the noise that had awakened her. She walked slowly to the door of her room and cracked it open. She walked down the hall towards the living room, where there were distinct sounds of a scuffle ensuing. Scarlet jumped and gasped as she saw Rorschach go flying across the room and smash hard into the island his face was covered in blood. She made to run to him but the dark figure he was fighting got to him first and grabbed him. Scarlet's knees began to shake and she put a hand out to steady herself against the wall feeling powerless, and horrified. Suddenly she didn't have the strength to move, she couldn't save him. Rorschach looked up into the face of his attacker. Scarlet's heart screamed in agony at the look of heart break and pain in his eyes.

"Why…" he said softly.

"because it's what was always meant to happen." Scarlet watched the attacker say, her voice sounded cold and unfeeling.

She watched in revulsion as the attacker plunged her blade into his heart. The big blue eyes Scarlet adored widened in pain and shock and then went dull and unfocused as his life slipped away.

"NOOOO!!!" she screamed as loudly she could and she desperately tried to run to him. The attacker looked up in her direction and their eyes met. Scarlet froze in disbelief and dismay the face she was looking into was one she saw every single day, when she looked in the mirror.

Scarlet screamed, she felt her knees beginning to buckle, as the other version of herself stared at her.

"No No NO!" she screamed.

Suddenly someone grabbed her from behind and held her tight. She kicked and screamed against them, she would not believe it.

"Scarlet!" yelled a voice, but she still fought, she had to get to Rorschach, she had to save him.

"Scarlet!!" yelled the voice again more imperatively and suddenly something clicked in her head… the voice was very familiar.

She was tangled in the blanket of her bed and she was still kicking and screaming but a familiar pair of arms were holding her tightly. She breathed in the soft musky smell she knew so well and became aware that her face was pressed tightly to his chest. She gasped and threw her arms around him relishing the sound of his wildly beating heart.

"Rorschach…." She gasped.

"I'm here…" he said gently stroking her hair.

Scarlet hugged him tighter so full of relief that he was alive, that he was safe. Safe…… suddenly she pushed away from him and looked at him in fear.

"You have to go." She said.

"What?" said Rorschach looking at her in confusion, "why?"

"Because it's not safe with me…. I'm not safe…" she said.

"Since when? What are you talking about?" said Rorschach in concern.

"We don't have time!" she said in desperation pushing him away from her, "You don't understand I just had a premonition!! I could kill you at any second get out!!"

She threw all her weight on him forcing him towards the door but he resisted. He grabbed her wrists and pushed her back but she tried kick him back towards the door. Her dodged her and she tried to wrench her fists out of his hands, when he wouldn't her she struggled and let out a yell of frustration.

"You have to get out of here you stubborn idiot!" she yelled.

"Scarlet…. STOP!" said Rorschach forcefully, he pushed her back down on the bed and pinned her there so she couldn't move.

"Rorschach I had a premonition! I'm going to kill you! Now leave before I get the chance!" she yelled.

"You didn't Scarlet!" he said still trying to hold her down as she struggled, "Listen… please… you didn't have a premonition!!"

"I saw you die!" she said desperately, "I saw it!!"

"It was a dream Scarlet! I was lying right next to you. Seen you have many premonitions… it wasn't one, It was just a dream." He said.

Scarlet stopped struggling. She felt a rush of relief wash over her. Now that she thought about it she did not have any of the premonition characteristics. No shaking room… so feeling of rushing down the long tunnel…. Just…. waking up.

"It was a dream…." She said weakly.

"Yes…." Said Rorschach pulling her into his arms, "it was just a nightmare…"

"But Rorschach…." Said Scarlet pulling away from him, "Even if it was just a dream… you still can't stay here… I'm not safe anymore… I was never safe to begin with actually… I'm just a pawn." She looked at her hands and took a deep breath hating what she had to say next, "we can't be together."

"Because of Nixon? Since when did he get final say?" said Rorschach.

Scarlet looked up at him sharply. He must have read the shock on her face because he gave her a slightly apologetic look and ran his thumb along her jaw.

"Please don't be angry. You were sick. Needed answers, so I went to Daniel. He told me about imprinting program, what Nixon did to you." He explained.

"then you understand why you have to leave." Said Scarlet.

"No." said Rorschach. "not leaving."

Scarlet put her head in her hands and sighed, she had been afraid of this.

"I can't be with you knowing that at any second I could kill you. How could you ask me to live my life that way." She said in frustration.

"Not asking…. Because you won't." he said.

"It's what I'm meant to do! You can't just stay here naively on some notion that my love will win and I won't kill you! That's stupid, what if something switches in my brain. I'll have to live with that until the day I die!! Doesn't that matter to you?" said Scarlet angrily.

Rorschach gave her a hard look, he stood from the bed and walked to the closet the pulled back the clothes and grabbed one of her daggers.

"What are you doing?" said Scarlet in alarm.

Rorschach came and knelt in front of her where she was sitting on the edge of the bed. He shoved the knife into her hand and pulled his shirt off. He grabbed her hand and pushed the blade hard against the spot over his heart, he held it there so firmly that a second later a small trickle of blood dripped from the spot.

"What are you doing??" repeated Scarlet with alarm as she tried to pull the knife away.

"No." he said curtly, "Want you to look at me. I already died, think I could do it again. Lived my life free of regrets, and now I have loved another human being with all my heart. Don't fear death, so if you are programmed, when I let go of your hand, do it. Do what you were meant to do, no one will stop you, and I will die most willingly. Go ahead." He let go of her hand and closed his eyes peacefully.

Scarlet stared in utter shock and terror at the knife in her hand. A feeling she had never experienced before came over her. She felt sorry for him, living his whole life in pain and loneliness. It would be so easy to just slip the knife between his ribs and end his pain, let him finally be at peace. If she really loved him….. she steadied her grip on the knife and took a deep breathe. She would make his pain end… she would set him free. Suddenly she saw his eyelids flutter slightly and she was reminded of their first night together, when she had watched him sleeping. It all came flooding back and she began to tremble all over. She was disgusted that the thought had even entered her head. She dropped the knife to the floor with a loud clatter and collapsed shaking and gasping. He picked her up and held her close.

"People's choices are the only thing that matter Scarlet. No one can take your choices from you." He whispered into her hair. She kissed him long and passionately, letting his words fill her with a new determination and resolve.

That night Scarlet and Rorschach made love in a way they never had before. It was beautiful and passionate but there was also something rebellious and exciting. Scarlet realized that there was something liberating and empowering about knowing that she was lying in this man's arms because she wanted to, not because someone programmed her to, but in spite of it.


	17. Chapter 17

_Really sorry this took so long guys. Life has been crazy. I got married, graduated college and moved! Also I wanted to make sure I had a really good direction for the story to go in, and I think I found it. Don't worry you will NOT be waiting long for the next chapter, and there are some twists coming that (I'm hoping) will knock you on your asses! :) give me reviews you know I love um'! _

Scarlet slowly opened her eyes. Everything felt groggy. From the bright light that shown through the crack in the curtains she could tell it was at least midday. She rolled over stiffly, hoping to find the reason for her existence still lying beside her. To her disappointment the bed was empty but there was a small piece of paper lying on the pillow. Scarlet smiled and picked it up. It had been folded into a perfect one inch by one inch square, and on the front was a small picture. It was the two lower case r's that she knew to be Rorschach's symbol, but he had drawn a crude rose, who's stem entwined the letters. Scarlet smiled as she softly ran her thumb over the symbol. People were so quick to judge Rorschach, she thought, all they ever saw was the violence and the anger. What would they say if they knew that the hands that broke fingers and bashed in skulls also made things as delicate as this? She unfolded the note and read:

_Scarlet. Went out to find some answers. Be back this evening. Fever broke around three. Don't go to work, still weak. Left medicine on your night stand, take it. Please rest, cannot lose my heart twice. _

_Rorschach_

Scarlet smiled and absentmindedly kissed the note. He knew her all too well, she was sure he had already called to tell them that she wouldn't be coming in to work. So she rolled back over to look at her nightstand. There were two aspirin, two DayOuil, and a glass of water. Scarlet popped the pills and washed them down. She stood slowly and groaned as the side effects of the fever set in, she was sore from head to toe. She smirked as she remembered the previous night's events. In retrospect their activities had probably not been the best of ideas in her weakened stated, and she knew that Rorschach had felt guilty after the fact, but to her in had been one of the most wonderful nights of her life. Even after they had made love when her fever had risen and she remembered only bits and pieces from her delirium. Knowing that he was there, holding a cold cloth to her head and whispering soothingly in her ear, it was more than she ever could have asked for.

She got out of bed and looked at herself in the mirror. As she did she made a face. Her hair, which was beginning to grow out and get shaggy was standing up at very strange angle that she thought gravity probably should have taken care of. There were deep dark rings under her eyes, and her face seemed devoid of all color.

"You've looked a hell of a lot better old girl." she told her reflection and her voice came out as a hoarse croak.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed a towel. She headed across the hall to her bathroom and turned the water in the shower on as hot as she could stand it. As she stepped into it she felt all the tension from the night before melting away. She reached her hand up to wash her hair and realized it was stiff. Hairspray... of course the mayor's gala. Had that really only been last night? It seemed like a lifetime ago, no more like ten lifetime's ago. She washed her hair and the grime off her body. A sharp stinging in her knuckles made her look down. They were covered in scrapes and cuts, and three or four of them had deep, ugly, purple bruises. She tried to make a fist and yelped in pain, she was sure there were probably hairline fractures in at least a few of them. She mentally kicked herself for being so stupid. As she stepped out of the shower she wiped the steam from the bathroom mirror. That's more like it, she thought to herself. The color was back in her face, there were still traces of dark shadows under her eyes make her look rather tired and worn, but for the most part, all together herself. She brushed through her hair and gave it a good shake, it really did what it pleased these days anyway. She wrapped the towel around herself and headed back into her room to get dress for the day. She settled on a sky blue sweater and her favorite brown corduroy pants. She got dressed and then padded out to the living room in a pair of her favorite thick wool socks, feeling extremely comfortable. It was a bright clear day, the kind that you rarely saw in New York those days. The sky was sparkling blue and there was barely a cloud in the sky. Scarlet walked onto her balcony and stepped out into the sunshine. It was warm, and there was a soft muggy summer breeze. The day was so clear that from her balcony you could see almost to the harbor. If it weren't for the Veidt building standing in the way Scarlet wagered she could have probably seen the Statue of Liberty. She took off her sweater and stood on the balcony in her simple white tank top. The storm from early that morning must have blown itself out. She closed her eyes and tilted her face up to the sun letting it warm her face and shoulders. That thought seemed ironically connected to the recent events of her life. Her storm had also passed, she had passed her test.

Scarlet walked back into the house. She was just debating on what she might want to make Rorschach for dinner, when her doorbell rang. She stopped halfway to the kitchen and stared at her door, then at the clock. She didn't know many people who would pop by for a visit at three o'clock in the afternoon on a weekday without informing her they were coming. She walked to the door and looked through the peep hole cautiously, the face she saw standing in her hall was one she recognized well, though that did nothing to ease her suspicion. She slid the deadbolt back and opened the door slowly. Alexandria Ryan met her eyes and gave her brightest most diplomatic smile.

"Hey Tess! How are you doing? Glad to see you're still in one piece after that bit of news Adrian laid on you last night."

"What are you doing here Alex." said Scarlet pointedly.

The impeccable smile on Alexandria's perfect face cracked, and her whole demeanor changed. Suddenly it was easy to tell that underneath all the glamor and beauty was a girl just as simple as Scarlet.

"Can I at least come in?" she said softly.

"Ok..." said Scarlet, softening her tone, but still wary.

Alexandria walked in and stood facing Scarlet as an awkward silence filled the space between them. Scarlet felt distinctly plain next to this exquisite creature, with perfect silky brown hair, and her deep purple Armani dress that probably cost more than Scarlet's rent. Alex took a unsure step towards the couch.

"Can we sit down.?" she asked, her voice still tentative.

"Sure..." said Scarlet and she took up a seat in the chair facing the couch, they sat there staring at each other for a moment. It was as if the huge weight of words unspoken was a bomb, and they were afraid it might go off if they got to close.

"How about some tea?" said Scarlet suggested mostly for something to fill the awkward silence.

"Alight.... green tea for me please... no sugar." said Alex.

"Still adhering to your strict health diet eh?" said Scarlet.

"Healthy body is the first step to success. One must master oneself before they can be master of anything else." replied Alex.

"And that..." said Scarlet as she putting the tea pot on to boil, "sounds like Ozymandias talking."

"No...." said Alex coldly, "That was me.... but would it be so horrible if it was his idea? There was a time when you respected him... respected me, do you really think you have any room to judge me for falling in love with--"

"a murderer?" Scarlet finished matching her icy tone. Alex was now standing, they were three or four feet apart and staring each other down.

"Well isn't that the pot calling the kettle black...." spat Alex.

"and what is that supposed to mean?" said Scarlet.

"why don't we take a walk down to the east side and see what they have to say about your new leading man? I'm willing to bet it isn't that he's full of puppies and rainbows." said Alex with a cruel sarcasm.

"Rorschach has _never_ harmed an innocent person. He would never sacrifice the lives of millions of women and children. I would die first... he did die..." said Scarlet bristling.

"and Ozy did what was needed to save billions of lives, and it haunts him to this day. It almost killed him to do it, and he will never forgive himself." said Alex, she looked coldly into Scarlet's eyes for a moment and then her expression softened. "Look Tessie... I didn't come here to fight, can we please have a hiatus? And just agree to disagree as far as our partners are concerned?"

"Yes." said Scarlet as she poured the mugs of tea and walked back into the living room, as much as Alex's words about Rorschach had infuriated her, her curiosity about Alex's visit was winning out.

"So why are you here Alex?" she said as she handed her the tea and they sat down.

"Truth?" said Alex, looking at her with her sparkling green eyes, "I missed you Tess I have for so long, and I knew in my heart of hearts I wasn't going to be able to do this without you."

"Do what?" said Scarlet now leaning forward to look more closely at her friend.

"We have to find them Tess."she said seriously.

"Find who?" said Tessa.

"The others like us...." replied Alex, and she pulled a folder out of her large Burberry handbag, "from the information Ozy and have gathered there are five of us still alive. We only have the information for one other than us two. Her name is Amelia Hardwick."

Alex flipped through the paper until she came to what Scarlet recognized as a psychological profile. She look into the face of the woman on the page, large round eyes and high cheekbones offset by a tiny mouth and large amounts of bushy red hair, the effect made her look beautiful but in a slightly deranged way. Scarlet read;

_Amelia Hardwick, age 34. Former patient of the Bellview Psychiatric Hospital, Augusta Maine. Suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, and obsessive compulsive disorder. Treated for fourteen years. Released __in June of 1988._

"She is the only one of us left alive who completed her mission." explained Alex grimly.

"You mean she killed...." Scarlet looked at Alex in shock as she nodded slowly, "but who? Who was her target?" Scarlet asked breathlessly.

Alex didn't answer, she simply pulled out a newspaper clipping dated April 30th, 1988, and handed it to Scarlet.

_Byron Lewis, a long term patient at Bellview Psychiatric Hospital died today under a flurry of intrigue and confusion. Lewis was found dead in his bed at morning role call. The coroners report states the man died of suffocation, most likely by a pillow. But mysteriously there is over a hand full of eye witnesses that swear no one entered Lewis's room. The room was guarded guarded round the clock, due to the fact that Lewis was none other than the legendary Minuteman Mothman, in his earlier life. Seeing as there was no way in or out of the room, except through the guards, the case has been deemed a suicide, but a wave of suspicion is still flowing through the halls of Bellview. _

"So what is her power?" said Scarlet gravely.

"We think she may have the ability to move through solid objects." said Alex.

"Where is she?" said Scarlet.

"We think she's somewhere in Montana, but we are being careful about looking for her. The last thing we want to do is frighten her." explained Alex.

"And the other two? The ones who haven't.... you know killed." said Scarlet, still looking down at the paper.

"We have no idea.... we're still searching the globe. Ozy is using every source within his power, and you know his power is extensive.

"Yeah...." said scarlet almost absentmindedly, she looked up suddenly, "but this still doesn't make sense Alex.... why are you trying to find the others? And why come to me? Like you said Adrian's power is virtually limitless, you don't need me."

"But I want you." said Alex gently, "we may not see eye to eye on everything, but you are the only true friend I have ever had. And my reasons for finding these people are simple, I want to offer them the chance to be part of something great."

"Something like what?" said Scarlet.

"Tess... we all have powers beyond those of any normal human being... if we worked together think of what we could accomplish!" she said.

"Like... a leauge?" said Scarlet, it sounded strange even as she said it, "what makes you think they'd be interested?"

"I don't know that they will be.... but I have to try. And I feel like if you're beside me and we go to them together maybe there's a better chance...." she said.

Scarlet looked at her suspiciously, she had known Alex since they were practically children. She could tell when she was being less than truthful.

"No..... that's not the whole story..." said Scarlet shrewdly, "what aren't you telling me Alex."

"Well.... that _is_ my main goal. But there are other reasons why finding them is important too." she said reluctantly. "Scarlet.... we have no guarantee that the others will be using their powers for good. We need to at least know what they can do... what we could be up against. Though I hope it never comes to us fighting each other..."

"that makes sense...." said Scarlet, "and....." she added slightly amused, she could see a bit of hesitance still on Alex's face.

"In his research Ozy discovered something the other day... we still don't have a name or an exact location, but we are closing in on the fourth one of us. She is somewhere in Northern Ireland, and we have reason to believe she may have a child." explained Alex.

Scarlet was completely nonplussed, she assumed that of the ten genetically altered people, some of them would undoubted have had children, but she failed to see why is was an important fact.

"We're unsure how the virus will effect it's hosts in the second generation." said Alex.

It was as if someone had dropped ice into Scarlet's stomach.

"That's a very cold clinical way of saying we have no idea how badly are children are going to be screwed up!" she said her voice trembling. She wasn't sure why that thought had effected her so much, it wasn't as though she had any children, she and Rorschach had never even discussed the idea. But knowing that this burden was something they would pass on felt like a weight put back on her shoulders.

"hey we don't know anything... it might have no effect at all..." said Alex in a comforting way.

"Alex, don't coddle me... I'm a big girl, I can take care of myself. And if I know Adrian, which I do, he has already had a team of scientist's test your blood to come up with all possible scenarios of how the virus could effect the next generation." said Scarlet her voice steady once more.

"You do know him well don't you...." said Alex with a slightly grim smile, "The researchers have come up with three possible scenarios, but they have made it clear that everything is guess work, our children could exhibit any number of combinations of the effects, or they may experience none of them at all. That's why we need to find the child, if it exists."

"What are the scenarios?" said Scarlet.

"Firstly our children could be born with their own unique abilities, just like us. They could also be born with the tendency towards violence and murder that has been encoded and in our genes, and lastly...."

Alex stopped, Scarlet saw a pained expression come over her face as she looked down at her hands, hesitating to continue.

"and lastly...." Scarlet prompted gently, Alex took a deep breath and looked sadly into Scarlet's eyes.

"lastly the researchers say there is a chance that the virus could end up killing any child within the first year of their life." said Alex.

"No..." gasped Scarlet putting her hands to her mouth.

"Don't you see Scarlet? This is why it's so important! This is why we have to find the rest! We have to know. If we are all together we can fight this thing no matter what comes!" said Alex passionately.

"You're right Alex..." said Scarlet.

"So you're with me?" said Alex hopefully.

"You know I am..." said Scarlet.

"Oh Tess I"m so glad. You don't even understand the weight that you've lifted, knowing you'll be with me." she looked out the window and then stood quickly.

"Good god the sun is already starting to set, it must be close to five. I need to run I'm meeting Ozy for dinner, but don't worry we'll keep you updated on everything that's going on. You and Rorschach." she said.

"Rorschach? You want his help to?" said Scarlet puzzlingly.

"Oh I think you'll find he's already on board next time you see him." said Alex with a smile.

Scarlet raised a curious eyebrow but Alex just flashed her brilliantly white teeth and gave her a quick hug.

"be in touch soon.... Scarlet." she said with a wink and then she blew out the door.

Rorschach carefully folded the note and placed in on his pillow. He looked down at the woman asleep on the bed. She sighed in her sleep and rolled over so she was facing him. He absentmindedly sat down on the edge of the bed and ran his hand along the side of her face, she stirred slightly but didn't wake. He knew she was far too exhausted. Emotions flowed through him like waves crashing against the walls of his mind. Things he had never understood, that he still didn't understand if he was perfectly honest with himself. All he knew was that, that day in the alley when she had come to his rescue with those thugs, she had saved him in more ways than she could ever know. And also, that yesterday when he'd thought he'd lost her, it felt as though a piece of his very soul had been ripped out. He smirked slightly at the irony, he was sure there were many who would say he didn't even have a soul, truth be told in his former life he might have agreed, but he had a soul now, because it's mate was lying beside him. Yet someone had hurt her, had used her, and had almost made her take her own life. Rorschach stood and walked from the room, he quietly walked to the door of the apartment and headed determinedly for the stairs. Someone was threatening his soulmate, and he would do whatever it took to keep her safe. Unfortunately, that meant visiting the one person who had information on the threat, who also happened to be the last man Rorschach ever wanted to see again.

It was almost nine o'clock when Rorschach arrived at Veidt Towers. He had walked, because he needed time to clear his head, and it had taken him a good half hour to reconcile himself into walking through the front door. As he took the elevator to the top floor he tugged nervously on the collar of his shirt, which felt to tight. He hated going out in public without his face, that's why he always tried to blend in. It was considerably harder to blend in now that he was associated with Scarlet, he smiled as he thought of her dressed in her business suit fighting passionately with the liberals at City Hall. It was definitely worth it.

The elevator doors opened and he walked out, and headed for the reception area outside the huge ornate doors that he knew lead to Adrian's office. His receptionist looked up and smiled. Her smile seemed plastic, held in place by the copious amounts of make up splashed on her face. She smelled too sweet, as if the sent of her expensive cologne was covering the distasteful secrets brewing beneath the surface.

"May I help you?" she said in an unctuous tone.

"Here to see Adrian Veidt." said Rorschach gruffly.

"Do you have an appointment." said the receptionist.

"No... old friend." said Rorschach, inwardly wondering if he was stretching the meaning a bit far, considering he was about to speak to his murderer.

"Oh... I see... well Mr. Veidt doesn't usually accept visitors without appointments. Can I maybe schedule you in?" cooed the receptionist. Rorschach was getting slightly irritated, this is why he hated trying to get anything done in the daylight hours.

"Just tell him, Charlie Blake is here. He'll see me." he said curtly.

The receptionist eyed him suspiciously for a few more moments but the leaned over to her phone and pressed a button.

"Mr. Veidt, sorry to disturb you, but there is a Mr. Charlie Blake here. He is requesting to see you would you like me to make---oh...." she looked mildly surprised as she looked back at Rorschach with the phone still pressed to her ear, "Yes sir... I'll send him in right away." she put the phone back in the cradle and looked at Rorschach curiously.

"Go right ahead in Mr. Blake, apparently Mr. Veidt has been expecting you." she motioned towards the doors.

Rorschach pushed through the large doors and walked down the corridor that opened into the huge sprawling office of Adrian Veidt. Veidt himself was standing by the large glass windows that made up with north wall of his office and looking out over the city. As Rorschach moved closer he saw that Veidt had his eyes closed and was smiling as the sun washed over his face.

"Beautiful day isn't it Rorschach?" said Veidt without even turning, "we so rarely get days like this in New York anymore." he turned and gave Rorschach his best most diplomatic and warm smile.

"Adrian." said Rorschach stiffly in greeting.

"Walter." Adrian replied but in a much warmer tone, "or is it Charlie now?"

"Doesn't matter." said Rorschach, "both names irrelevant."

"Ah yes... you always were one to put much more stalk in your alter identity weren't you?"said Adrian, he walked to a small table by his desk which seemed to be completely stocked with an assortment of breakfast foods. He poured himself a glass of orange juice and grabbed an apple.

"Would you like anything?" he said to Rorschach, "Eggs...toast?"

"No.... thank you." said Rorschach, "Just want all information you have on project Dulous."

"Always all business with you isn't it Rorschach? Tell me.... do you think it would kill you to be pleasant for once?" said Adrian sitting down behind his desk and smirking as he took a bit of the apple in his hand.

"Don't make habit of being pleasant with man who murdered me." said Rorschach.

"I see... same old Rorschach eh? Black and white.... narrow minded to the bitter end. Quite literally. And yet..... you aren't the same are you? Because if you were you'd never have come here to me..." said Adrian giving Rorschach a calculating look.

"Came here because you are the only one with answers." said Rorschach.

"Yes... but the thing that fascinates me... is why you are the one asking the questions." said Adrian, still watching Rorschach intently.

"What do you mean?" said Rorschach.

"Project Dulous? I assume Scarlet has already told you everything I told her. I happen to know that my Jade will be going to speak with Scarlet later this afternoon, about her side of things and give her any more information she might need. So why are you here, without Scarlet, asking me?" Adrian pressed his fingertips together and looked across his desk at Rorschach.

"Need to know what I'm up against. To keep her safe." he said.

"If Scarlet explained properly, you would understand that at this point in time your safety seems to be the more pertinent-"

"No." said Rorschach curtly, cutting him off, "Not the point, know she won't hurt me. Must keep her safe from whoever did this to her."

"Why is she so important? You've protected and conversely terrified hundreds upon hundreds of people in this city, Watchmen and civilians alike. Why is she worth the extra risk, what has she done to be worthy?" Adrian sat silently awaiting an answer.

Rorschach struggled within his own mind. He knew what he felt, he knew that Scarlet was the most important thing in his world. That she was worth anything that could be done to protect her, but he was also unsure that he was capable or willing to share that piece of himself with the man sitting before him.

"She's..... different." he said searching for the right words, "Understands me, supports me, never judges, she helps me stay.... human." he finished lamely. He felt uncomfortable even with the this small amount of disclosure to a man he so deeply distrusted.

Adrian cocked his head to the side in curiosity and slight wonderment.

"You love her...." he said with a trace of awe in his voice.

"And?" said Rorschach almost defensively.

"and nothing.... it's just not something I would have expected to ever see in you. " said Adrian.

"You and many others." muttered Rorschach, "Suspect most Watchmen, were under impression that I didn't have a heart to begin with."

"No we knew you had a heart Rorschach, I just don't think any of us expected you to ever take it out of the iron clad case you hide it away in." said Adrian as he stood and once again looked out the window.

"You know I love Scarlet as well.... not in the same way you do... but we were very close, practically inseparable we were once."

"She told me." said Rorschach.

"Well then you'll understand that we have a similar goal of never wanting to see her in harms way." Adrian turned and put both hands on the desk leaning across it to look intently at Rorschach, "Tell me how far would you go to keep Tessa safe? What would you be willing to sacrifice?"

"Everything, down to my very last breath." said Rorschach without hesitating.

"Good. Because I need your help." said Adrian.

"With what?"

"I think there may be a way to sure them, to eradicate the virus from their systems. You and I both know that as long as that virus is in them they will never be safe. Yes they have resisted killing us so far, but there is always the possibility that something will snap." said Adrian beginning to pace.

"I don't believe Scarlet will snap, it's still her choice." said Rorschach sharply.

"I know... and my heart believes the same of Alexandria, but we must think logically Rorschach. Even if they never snap, have you considered the possibility of what the virus could do to them, if they do not follow their programming. What if it mutates and kills them? What if it makes them sterile or causes even more dangerous defects in their children? No the best course of action is to try and cure them."

said Adrian.

"Ok. Agreed. What do you need my help with?" said Rorschach.

"Jade is going to talk with Scarlet about looking for the others of their kind. If we find a cure we want it open to all of them. If not, it is wiser to at least know where they all are and what they can do. I was hoping you and Dan might be able to use his technology and resources to look into the government files, and find out some details on not only the subjects, but any dirt that might have been swept under the rug with project Dulous." said Adrian.

"But you're most powerful man in the world."pointed out Rorschach, "What makes you think we could find anything you can't?"

"Because being too well known is sometimes a curse Rorschach," said Adrian, "When the Fed's see me coming they bury their dirty laundry places I could never find it. Sometimes... it takes someone..." he gave Rorschach a meaningful look, "who lives in the shadows, to find the truth."

Rorschach nodded silently. There was no needs for words, as an unspoken and hesitant truce settled between the two men. Rorschach got up and headed for the door.

"Rorschach...." said Adrian. Rorschach turned back to look at him.

"I hope I'm not over stepping my bounds by saying this, but.... if you really couldn't live without her. You should tell her that." he said. He didn't wait for a reply, he simply sat down and went back to his paperwork.

Rorschach walked out of the office shaking his head. Truth be told he wasn't quite sure how he felt about being told those words by Adrian Veidt, but the point he made couldn't be denied. He got back into the elevator deep in his owns thoughts.


	18. Chapter 18

_My name is Alexandria Ryan and even though you may have never heard of me before, you will after my story is been told. I am, well, I was an assassin paid by the government to take care of big wigs that get in the way. I am no longer fit to be an assassin, I am no longer fit to do many things that I used to, but don't let me get ahead of myself. A good writer doesn't give away the ending of their story before it even begins. And I my friends am a good writer. There is so much I have to tell you, so much I want you to know about my life as well as others. I do not want my story to fall on deaf ears or weak eyes. This life is meant to be talked about, meant to be noticed because no one wants to die in vain, least of all me. I will say that I did and still do love a man, if you could call him just a man. To me he's so much more. He saved my life before and therefore he is my life. My story all starts and ends with him._

_I remember him at a young age. He saved me from a man who had captured me in order to violate innocence. I would never have seen my 13__th__ birthday if it wasn't for him my savior, my hero Ozymandias. And for that I will be eternally grateful. _

_When I first laid eyes on his form in the darkness I wanted nothing more than to hug him and cry, but I was speechless. All I could do was stare at him in shock. I had never seen a man so perfect in every way. He told me that everything was going to be alright now, and that I was safe from harm. Then he gently placed a hand on my arm and swiftly led me out of the black abyss and into the busy streets of New York. There he asked me where I lived. I remember telling him I was an orphan, and that I lived in an orphanage two blocks from where we were. I gave him the street address and he made sure I was brought home safely. On our way to the orphanage he asked me politely how I became an orphan. I told him that my parents left me in the hospital to which I was born because they believed I had something wrong with me. Ozymandias seemed bewildered by my response. I could see in his deep blue eyes that he held remorse for me. This confused me to no end. Here stood a man so immense and glorious saving my life, who actually took pity on me?_

_As we walked along the dirty streets we made sure to stay close to the shadows so as not to attract too much attention. He kept staring at me as he led me towards my destination. It wasn't the creepy obsessive stare that I had received earlier from the monstrous man in the alley, but a look that gave the description that he was studying me more than anything. Perhaps he was making sure I wasn't hurt too bad and that I was able to stay on my feet. Even though I was scrawny, pale, and plain looking, I at least had the strength to keep going. I wanted to get as far away from the streets as I could. What I wanted more than anything at that moment was for this man, my hero, to take me far away to a place where no one could find me. To take me away from these streets, away from the city, away from the orphanage, and away from all the people who never really cared about me._

_I don't remember much else from that night, but we did have small conversations here and there as he protected me from the evil streets. I remember his hand being warm and strong. I remember the smell of this god-like creature, and how it seemed to linger in the smoke infested air. And I remember his kind and gentle smile that held the assurance that someday things would be better soon. I told him that he seemed like the type of man that could make the world better. His reaction to that was shock, which quickly turned into the same gentle smile he held just moments before. Apparently I had said something that struck a chord. I hoped it had affected him in a good way, but before I was able to think more upon what I had said we had arrived at the orphanage._

_When we approached the door he leaned in to knock, and within moments the door flew open to reveal a very teary eyed woman who I knew to be faking. She was the caretaker of the orphanage and she didn't give a shit about us. Turns out she had seen us coming through the windows and recognized the superhero as Ozymandias. He was her favorite because he was the most handsome and brilliant of them all, and now was her chance to show him how great of an actress she was._

_I looked up at his face to see if he was buying any of this façade, and I could tell from his very bored glare that he wasn't. I had hoped then that maybe he would see the fraud and decide to take me with him back to his mansion that I was sure he owned. Instead he briefly addressed the woman and put me back in her clutches, and there was the end of my fairytale evening. He soon ran off into the night to fight other criminals and save other lives that needed the heroism. I didn't want him to save anyone else. I only wanted him to be my savior, my hero, and I felt selfish for thinking those thoughts. I was selfish for thinking those thoughts, and I hated it. _

_Later in life I came to realize that I was the last person he had saved in his crime fighting days. It seems that my selfish thoughts paid off. The very day after he rescued me, he chose to retire and reveal his true identity to the public. He was none other than Adrian Veidt. This was a little harder for me to take in. The man who had rescued me that day in the alley was a rich playboy? I remember watching the tv screen in disbelief as I swallowed a spoonful of cheerios. No it couldn't be. Not him, anyone but the smartest man alive._

_During that time I had felt so insignificant and insecure. How could someone so heroic, so amazingly brilliant, wish to save a small and ugly girl such as myself? There I realized the importance of the Watchmen such as Ozymandias. Before I was rescued I had thought nothing of them. They were a bunch of adults running around in silly costumes trying to show the world that there were some good people left who wanted to help. All I could see were a bunch of psychopathic fools who obviously didn't have the best of childhoods. I was proven wrong the night I was almost destroyed. _

_Yes Adrian seemed quite narcissistic when announcing to the public that his alias was Ozymandias. Yes he was a filthy rich stuck up prick, but he was a filthy rich stuck up prick who protected me when I needed someone the most. It showed in even the smallest of ways that he cared for people. He wasn't one to stand around and watch an innocent life raped and murdered. No. He was better than that. _

_After he was unmasked I began to study up on his lifestyle. I wanted to learn all that I could about him. I knew I could never be as intelligent as he was, but I wanted other abilities that he carried. I wanted to gain strength and to eat healthier. I would no longer be a helpless human being suffering under the hands of a killer, especially since the Keene Act was passed. Watchmen could no longer hold their vigilante status unless they wanted to be sent to prison. I had to be strong, I had to be able to defend myself in times of need, and I had to someday thank Veidt for showing me how to become a better person. Adapting to the system of treating my body as a temple I began my training. I watched tv programs that Adrian would appear on to show certain fighting styles, and I copied all of his moves. Since I was a child I had a curious talent. This gift was simple and efficient. It allowed me to copy any ability that I viewed. I merely had to watch someone do anything at least once and I could copy their actions move by move. I was never really sure as to when or how I gained this, but for some reason or another I've been able to do it since I can remember._

_At age 14 my body was adjusting quite well throughout the stages of early puberty and certain training exercises I had planned for each day. I was determined to be strong and agile so I could someday be like Ozymandias and save others that needed my help. My entire life I spent believing that no one ever really cared about who I was as a person, so I thought being a hero would be cause for praise. I had decided a while back that I would become a superhero, but it wasn't until I had reached the age of 15 that I finally found my true name, Jade Phoenix. It fit my persona perfectly in so many different ways. I spent days looking up distinct names that I could one day call my own, and I remember sitting in my room at the orphanage looking up the meanings of all kinds of words. I was sitting on the bottom bunk flipping through numerous pages of encyclopedias, dictionaries, and the occasional book of myths that I simply liked to read on my spare time. After a while I grew tired of searching for the perfect name and began to read tales of gods and goddesses, along with the most powerful mythical creatures that great minds once created. I could never get enough of these stories, and it was here that I found a piece of my identity. As I grabbed another book from my ever growing pile that had resided on the bedroom floor, I somehow managed to pick a book dedicated to the unique and fascinating creature the phoenix. The moment I opened the first page I was hooked. It was an ancient mythological firebird that would die by igniting its own self and then be reborn as a new bird through its own ashes. Simply outstanding and beautiful, it was first derived from the Egyptian, and later, Greek mythology. _

_I had to be a phoenix, the night I was almost raped I died to myself, and when Ozymandias saved me I was reborn. Through his heroism I became a new being, if I had been raped that night I would have simply been a phoenix that had ignited, and would never be reborn. I also found the phoenix to be significant because it was first found in Egyptian and Greek mythology. From studying up on Adrian I remembered learning that he adored all Egyptian and Greek aspects of life. Phoenix had to be the symbol for me. If it wasn't then what else could be?_

_Of course I was still only half way done on finding my name. I needed something else to add to phoenix. It didn't feel right to fight crime and state myself as the Phoenix. I decided to look for anything that could bring more of a description to phoenix. In the end I went with a color that would spice things up, well actually in this colors case, cool things down. It was the color Jade. My favorite color was and will always be green, while my favorite stone had to be jade because of its green undertones, and it truly was a beautiful gem. I backed up my love for jade by finding the true meaning of the stone, and revealed an extremely accurate reason as to why I had become a superhero in the first place. The Imperial families in Asia had called it the 'Jewel of Heaven' and it was said to be the stone of immortality and a symbol of purity. It brought about charity, modesty, courage, justice and wisdom._

_As Jade Phoenix _

_When I first worked as a waitress I began living at the YMCA, and met many interesting and talented people. One in particular became a dear friend of mine. Her name was Tessa and her life was in ruins. What was so amazing about her was her drive. She understood the hardships of life and had the same desire as mine. Tessa had two lives, one was a waitress working for the system under the radar, and the other was a superhero training to protect and prevent the bad harming those few good people left._

"Approaching target destination. Prepare for drop." said a harsh voice through the speaker system bring Jade back to the present. She took a deep breath and tucked the small black book into a pocket on her bag which she then slung over her back and headed for the door at the back of the plane.

Here she was at Karnak, a place she never knew existed. It was such a bizarre and remote location for such an immensely sophisticated building. She had no idea, that Ozymandias created this place for his getaway residence. How could she have not known? She knew almost everything about him. Almost. she still wasn't sure what his sexual preference was, or his personal favorites such as meals or music. She wanted to know so much about him and she couldn't find that in interviews or random infomercials for his company. She needed to meet him, to sit down and discuss our thoughts and ideas, whatever they may be. But for now that would have to wait, she thought to herself. For now she would do what the government originally sent her here to accomplish. She was their personal mercenary and she was on a mission. Her job now was to take down one of the most influential and powerful man in this world. Jade was in Karnak to assassinate Adrian Veidt.

She stepped to the platform that was lowering and felt the blast of bone chilling air. Her suit while skin tight was actually thermally protected so she did not shiver. She turned once to look into the hard face of her commander who gave her a curt nod, and then she leapt gracefully as a diver from the plane. Her body twisted and turned in beautiful arcs and she fell. Extending her arms so the custom made suit with it's flaps of material on the sides allowed her to glide easily onto the roof of the massive structure where she landed cat like. She unzipped the flying suit and stuffed it carefully into her bag which she stowed in a corner of the roof protected from the wind, and then she slunk to the nearest vent and dropped into it lithely.

There was a massive room that coincidentally was practically empty. There were statues lining the walls. These statues were tall forms of Egyptian gods and goddesses that seemed to stare down at whoever would pass by their immense feet. Jade stuck to the sides of the walls making sure not to be too out in the open. She didn't know where Adrian might be lurking and it was best not to just walk into the main entrance of Karnak by simply marching down the center. She noticed on the far left of the main room there was a giant wall of televisions and before the tvs sat a big golden chair that was beautifully crafted. Jade wondered what all the tvs were for. None of them were on at the moment, but why were they there to begin with. Did he use them to spy on the world and all its happenings? No wonder the government seemed so adamant about the demise of this international titan. He was too smart for his own good, too much of a megalomaniac. Even still, she couldn't help but feel pride for this man. The world was jealous of his amazing potential. Jealous and scared of what he could and would do with it.

Jade snapped out of her reveries and focused on her stealth and the fact that she was extremely curious of the tv sets and the immaculate chair before them.

"Ah screw it," she said to herself and swiftly made her way away from the statues and towards the other side to the wall of televisions. If Adrian was anywhere around here he could see her all he wanted. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that there was no need to sneak up on him. Ozymandias was the smartest man alive and probably already expected someone to come and kill him, especially now. Now after Rorschach's journal escaped into the New Frontiersman everyone was wary of Adrian Veidt. What had he done that Rorschach was writing about? The world was worried and it was Jade who would come and save the day whether she wanted to or not. Of course she idolized Adrian, but money was money and she was being offered more than she could ever make in a lifetime. Finally she had made it to the televisions fighting the temptation to turn them all on. Instead she turned her curiosity towards the chair. It was beautiful. Jade couldn't help but think that to her the chair was even more beautiful because of the idea that Adrian sat in this chair.

Adrian. Yes that was why she was here. Jade brushed her hands through her hair sighing "I have to do this." She looked up to the sight of stairs that led up to other areas of Karnak. "Time to get to work." She smiled sadly and ran up the stairs to search for her target. She couldn't think of him as Adrian anymore. If she kept dwelling on the man she would soon kill, she wouldn't be able to do it. He was her target now and nothing more. She had to forget that he saved her once, and was always her hero after that. Jade was a mercenary first and foremost. She was good at what she did, and soon the smartest man in the world would know this too.

Adrian was in his library looking through a series of books that he had read several times in the past. He had an entire library filled to the brim with the most intelligent books ever written. This was his sanctuary. So much knowledge in one room, and the world couldn't handle it. He felt betrayed. He had done so much for the world and now they were afraid of him. How could they be this way?

There came a noise outside the library doors. It sounded like the pitter patter of running feet and they were quickly coming closer. Adrian could tell from the sounds that it was only one person, and they seemed to be in a hurry to find him.

_Finally_, Adrian deduced, _they've decided to send someone to come and kill me. Poor fool, apparently they weren't told of who they were dealing with._ Even though Adrian believed this, there was still many gnawing thoughts that wished to resurface to the front of his consciousness. _What if this person they sent is actually able to defeat me? What if it's not even a person coming to assassinate me? _There was still one person he thought of that would actually know where to find him, and want to pay a visit. _Could it be Scarlet?_

The footfalls grew louder and finally burst through the library doors. It most definitely wasn't Scarlet. Instead it was another woman who seemed to have hair of fire because it was an interesting mixture of blonde and red that flowed freely over her suit. Now the suit itself was of black latex embroidered with green flames that gave the illusion of the suit catching fire as well. It was a beautifully crafted suit that could only be custom made by the government. His first thoughts were correct. They had sent an assassin to take "care" of him.

Her appearance was fierce and ready for battle. She didn't bother to hide her face from him, nor did she give off the air of fear. This woman knew who she was after and knew what had to be done. For once Adrian actually felt like this fight would be worthwhile. It reminded him of what it must have felt like for Edward Blake in his final moments when Adrian came to silence him.

"Ozymandias , aka, Adrian Veidt?" She asked even though she knew the answer.

"Yes that is me," Adrian said with a smug expression. She had to have been enjoying this.

"My name is Jade Phoenix and I have come to murder you." _Let the games begin._

The woman with blazing hair didn't strike right away as Adrian had expected her to. Instead she seemed at a standstill while eyeing Adrian who was scrutinizing every move that she was making. He was in a statuesque position holding his posture, readying himself for when she would eventually attack. He didn't exactly care if she could destroy him or not since all that he had achieved seemed in vain. No, he simply wanted to enjoy one last battle with a worthy enough foe.

In mere seconds her beauty stood before him and in a flash she had vanished now taking her place behind him. Adrian quickly spun around to find his killer when a fist was sent flying towards his face. The impact never came as he maneuvered his body into a crouching position and slammed his fist into Jade's side. There was a loud oomph noise as she staggered sideways and into a shelf full of books. Adrian watched as she easily snapped back into a fighting stance to which she swiftly threw herself into a handstand and flipped over his head landing behind him once again. This time Adrian turned to her expecting another fist only to be met with a leg literally sweeping him off his feet. He fell backwards hitting his head hard against the polished marble floor. Being disoriented for just a moment, Jade took that moment to straddle Adrian's form and wrap her fingers tightly around his neck. She was able to strangle him for a few seconds before a pair of arms came up through her own and latched onto her throat.

Even though Jade could hold her own quite well, Adrian was much stronger. He had been training many years before she had. Adrian now had the upper hand and switched their positions so that now he was straddling Jade. Both were still choking each other until Jade let go of Adrian's neck to perform a karate chop using her right hand hitting his throat at a downward angle. This made him cough and sputter quite profusely. Letting go of her neck, he fell backwards in shock at the intense blow she had just bestowed upon him. She stood up quickly and threw her entire right leg into Adrian's face. Blood now splattered like paint across the floor. Adrian turned his face back towards her view to reveal an already bruising and bloody cheek.

"Well Miss Phoenix", Adrian dribbled out before spitting up more blood. He leaned onto his knee for support as he began to stand. "It seems that I've finally met my match."

Jade smirked at his remark. "It seems you have Mister Veidt. Now if you could please just give up altogether, I'm sure this would be a lot easier for the both of us in the end."

Adrian let out a boisterous yet completely entrancing laugh. "My dear I'm far from finished. I want to see what else you can do." He flashed his dazzling smile, now coated with a pasty red color.

Their battle raged on for what felt like hours with neither one giving up, or giving in. In the end it was Adrian who was feeling the worst of it. He was much older than this young woman, and he was a little rusty on his fighting as he hadn't fought in years. Although he still trained every day, his heart wasn't into it as he used to be. Since Scarlet left him he really had no one. All of Karnak had been empty, besides the occasional genetically altered animal there was absolutely no visible life for miles. Now after years of no human contact, a human being stood before him only sent on a mission to kill him, and quite frankly Adrian had had enough.

They were currently in an intricate dance of fists, blocks and dodges when Adrian gave up altogether. What would have been a nicely blocked punch now connected and threw the massive man down onto the cold floor. He was a bloody mess, and so was she but it was much more noticeable on him because of his now stained shirt. Her outfit was a slippery , black and green latex that covered her entire body. If there were any bruises or blood stains no one would be able to tell.

Jade now stood over Adrian's beaten form with a startled and puzzled look residing on her bruised face. Why did he stop so suddenly? Did he just not care anymore, and now wants to die? Perhaps he did she thought as he grabbed a hold of her leg and stared at her with an intensely defeated gaze.

"Please finish me", he said with a twisted and torn smile.

She was struck with an overwhelming sense of sadness. _I have _to, she thought to herself. _I have to kill him, government's orders._ _But you know you can't_. Jade's conscience was speaking to her now, and it was saying the truth.

Bending down and reaching into her boot she found a knife she had stored there previously for this exact moment. Pulling it out Jade made one quick motion and lifted Adrian's head for better access, and held the knife to his neck. She stared into his ready eyes and tried to prepare herself as well. Still she couldn't muster up the strength to take his life. So many years ago he had been the one to save her. How could she kill the only man that ever meant anything to her?

She let go of his head and dropped the knife which made several metallic crashes when it finally hit the floor. Tears were sent forth spilling from her eyes and dropped like massive raindrops that had no end in sight. "I can't", she managed to whisper with a shaky voice. "I can't do it. I just can't." Jade collapsed onto the cold hard floor and curled her knees to her chest. All she could do was cry. She knew she was being weak especially in the presence of this man, but she didn't care. Upon arriving in Karnak she had come with a purpose, to kill the only man who ever showed compassion to her, and she failed. It was now in this moment that she realized life was worth so much more than money. This man had valued her life once before, and it was her time to return the favor.

There was a rustling noise next to her as Adrian pushed himself up into a sitting position and crawled his way to her side. He reached for her arm and grabbed it gently as he lifted the both of them up and brought her close to his chest. Jade felt safe and warm there as she wept into his already wet and stained shirt. _If only these tears could wash away these stains_, she thought. And that was the last thing she could remember.


End file.
